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Frontispiece.

i*THE DESTRUCTION

OF

ANCIENT ROME

A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF THE
MONUMENTS

BY

RODOLFO LANCIANI

D.C.L. Oxford, LL.D. Harvard

PROFESSOR OF ANCIENT TOPOGRAPHY IN THE
UNIVERSITY OF BOMB

MICROFORMED BY

PRESERVATION

SERVICES

yUN 1 5 1987

DATE

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd.

1899

All rights reserved

><•

* }»

Copyright, 1899
By the MACMILLAN COMPANY

NortoooB Jlrraa

J. S. Gushing Si Co. — Berwick & Smith
Norwood Mass. U.S.A.

PREFATORY NOTE

Professor Rodolfo Lanciani needs no introduction
to English readers.

This book sums up briefly the results of researches,
extending over many years, in regard to the fate of the
buildings and masterpieces of art in ancient Rome. In
his work upon this subject and upon his large map
Professor Lanciani has searched hundreds of volumes of
municipal and ecclesiastical records, besides examining
several thousand separate documents ; and he has ran-
sacked the principal libraries of Europe for prints and
drawings showing the remains of ancient Rome at differ-
ent periods. Much of the new material thus collected
will appear in fuller form in an extensive work, compris-
ing several volumes, which will be published in Italian
under the title Storia degli Scavi di Roma. The present
volume is a forerunner of the larger work.

Thanks are due to Professor Walter Dennison of Ober-
lin College, for kind assistance in reading the proofs, and
for the compilation of the Indexes.

F. W. K.

November 1, 1899.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I. The Destroyers of Ancient Kome .

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

X.

XL

XII.
XIII.
XIV.

XV.

The Transformation of Republican Rome by the Em
PERORS

The Use of Earlier Materials, particularly Marbles
in the Building Operations of the Later Empire

The Aspect of the City at the Beginning of the
Fifth Century

The Sack of the Goths in 410, and its Consequences

The Sack of Rome by the Vandals in 455 .

The City in the Sixth Century ....

Burial Places within and without the Walls .

The Devastation and Desertion of the Campagna

The Monuments in the Seventh Century

The Incursion of the Saracens in 846, and the Exten
siON OF the Fortifications of the City

The Flood of 856

The Rome of the Einsiedlen Itinerary

The Usurpers of the Holy See and the Sack of 1084 154

Rome at the End of the Twelfth Century — The

Itinerary of Benedict

vii

PAGE

3

10

28

47
56
74
77
89
101
106

126
139
142

174

viii CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGB

XVI. Marble-cutters and Lime-burners of Mediaeval and

Kenaissance Rome ....... 180

XVII. The Beginnings of the Modern City .... 198

XVIII. The Sacking of Rome by the Army of Charles of

Bourbon in 1527 214

XIX. The Monuments in the Latter Part of the Six-
teenth Century ........ 227

XX. The Modernisation of Mediaeval Buildings in the

Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries . . 253

XXI. Modern Use of Ancient Materials .... 258

INDEXES :

I. Index of Subjects 267

II. Index of Passages and Inscriptions .... 278

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Panoramic view of Rome by Balthasar Jenichen . . Frontispiece

FIGURE PAGE

1. Substructions of the palace of Septimius Severus. From a

photograpli 2

2. Torre dei Schiavi. From a photograph 6

3. Section of steps of the round temple of the Forum Boarium,

showing earlier and later construction . . . .11

4. Fragment of painted terra cotta antefix from the temple of

Jupiter Optimus Maximus. From Tav. xiii. of the Bullettino

Comunale, 1896 12

6. Fragment of painted tile from an early temple on the Esqui-

line. From Tav. xiii. of the Bullettino Comunale, 1896 . 13

6. Section of excavations in the Via di S. Gregorio, showing

changes of level 19

7. Fragment of the tomb of Celer. From a photograph . . 21

8. Excavation of the Via Nazionale on the Quirinal, showing re-

mains of buildings of different periods. From a photograph 25

9. Part of the upper story of the Coliseum, repaired with mate-

rials from earlier buildings. From a photogi-aph . . 29

10. Another view of the upper story of the Coliseum, showing

repairs made with architectural fragments from various
sources. From a photograph 30

11. A statue, broken into fragments, in process of reconstruction.

From a photograph ........ 44

12. The monument of Stilicho in the Foi'um. From a photograph 51

13. The raising of level at the Porta Ostiensis, a.d. 402 ... 54

14. Bronze heads found in 1880 under the English Church, Via del

Babuino. After Tav. i. of the Bullettino Comunale, 1881 . 67

15. Section of the channel of the Aqua Marcia, at Monte Arcese,

showing deposits on the bottom and sides .... 81

16. The remains of the Claudian aqueduct at the Porta Furba.

From a photograph . , • 86

X LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FIGURE PAGE

17. Tomb of P. Vibius Marianus, so-called "Tomb of Nero," ou

the Via Clodia, 4J miles north of Home. From a print . 93

18. Columbarium ou the Via Severiana, near Ostia, opened in

1868. From a print 94

19. The Sepolcro degli Stucchi, showing the hole made by plun-

derers in the vaulted ceiling. From a print ... 97

20. View of the Campagna, remains of the Claudian aqueduct in

the distance. From a photograph 100

21. The column of Phocas in the Forum. From a photograph . 107

22. The Pronaos of the Pantheon. From a photograph . . .11.3

23. The tomb of St. Paul and the canopy of Arnolfo di Lapo in S.

Paolo fuori le Mura, after the fire of 1823. From a print . 132

24. Tower of the wall of Leo IV., now used as an observatory.

From a photograph 134

25. The Forum flooded by the Tiber, 1898. From a photograph . 140

26. The Ponte Salario, two miles north of Rome ; blown up to

prevent the advance of Garibaldi in 1867. From a photo-
graph 149

27. View of the Caelian hill, looking southeast. From a photograph 163

28. View of the Forum in 1821, partly excavated, showing the

difference between the ancient and the modern level. From

an engraving ......... 167

29. The obelisk of the gardens of Sallust as it lay after it had

fallen. From a sketch by Fontana 171

30. The lower end of the obelisk of the Campus Martius. From a

sketch by Bandini . 172

31. A typical Roman house of the twelfth century, built with odd

fragments. From a photograph 179

32. The pulpit in the cathedral of S. Matt^o at Salerno, built with

marbles from Rome. From a photograph .... 185

33. Fragments of cornice from the temple of Vulcan at Ostia.

From a photograph 195

34. House and tower of the Margani. From a photograph . . 200

35. A lane of Mediaeval Rome — Via della Lungarina, demolished

in 1877. From a photograph 202

36. The Porta del Popolo of the time of Sixtus IV. From a sketch

by M. Heemskerk (1536) 209

37. Reliefs from the tomb of Calpurnianus, the charioteer. From

a photograph 210

LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS xi

38. The hill of S. Onofrio, where Charles of Bourbon established

his headquarters. From a photograph .... 215

39. One of the Sale Borgia — that of the "Vita della Madonna"

— in the Vatican. From a photograph .... 223

40. Bas-reliefs from the arch of Marcus Aurelius, now in the Con-

servatori Palace. From a photograph .... 229

41. The statues of Castor and Pollux on the Capltoline hill, restored

in 1584. From a photograph 233

42. View of the Lateran buildings before their destruction by

Sixtus V. From a sketch by Ciampini .... 243

43. The Loggia of Pietro Squarcialupi, Palazzo del Senatore.

From an old print 248

44. The Ponte Rotto, half carried away by the inundation of 1557.

From a photograph 249

45. The Cesi chapel in the church of S. Maria della Pace, built

with Pentelic marble from the temple of Jupiter Optimus
Maximus. From a photograph 260

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

HISTORICAL AND TOPOGRAPHICAL WORKS

Adinolfi, Pasquale : Roma iielT eta di mezzo. 2 vols. Rome, 1881.
Armellini, Mariano : Le chiese di Roma dal Secolo IV. al XIX.

2d edit., Rome, 1891.
Corpus Inscriptionum Latiuarum : Vols. VI., 1876 sq., and XIV.,

1887.
De Rossi, Giovanni Battista : Inscriptiones Christianae Uibis Romae

saeculo septimo antiquiores. Rome, Vol. I., 1861 ; Vol. II.,

pars 1, 1888.

Roma Sotterranea Cristiana. Vol. I., 1864.

Roma Sotterranea ; or. Some Account of the Roman Catacombs.

Translated by J. S. Northcote and W. R. Brownlow. London,
1869. New ed., 1879.

Duchesne, Louis : Le Liber Pontificalis — Texte, introduction et

commentaire par I'abbe L. Duchesne. 2 vols. Paris, 1886-1892.
Dyer, Thomas H. : A History of the City of Rome, its Structures

and Monuments. London, 1865.
Gibbon, Edward : History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman

Empire.
Gilbert, O. : Geschichte und Topographie der Stadt Rom im Alter-

thum. Leipzig, 3 parts, 1883, 1885, 1890.
Gregorovius, Ferdinand: Geschichte der Stadt Rom im Mittelalter.

8 vols., 4th ed. Stuttgart, 1886-1896.

History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages. Translated

from the Fourth German edition by Annie Hamilton. Vols I.-VI.
London, 1894-1899.

Grisar, Hartman, S. L. : Geschichte Roms und der Piipste im Mit-
telalter. Freiburg, Vol. I., 1898.

xiv SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

1

Helbig, Wolfgang : Guide to the Public Collections of Classical
Antiquities in Rome. Translation by J. F. and F. Muirhead.
2 vols. Leipzig, 1895-1896.

Jaffd, PhiL : Regesta Pontificum romanorum ab condita ecclesia ad
ami. 1198. 2d ed., revised by Kaltenbrunner, etc. 2 vols. Leip-
zig, 1885-1888.

Jordan, H. : Topographie der Stadt Rom im Alterthum. Berlin,
Vol. I., part i., 1878, part ii., 1885 ; Vol. IL, 1871.

Kraus, Franz Xavier : Geschichte der christlichen Kunst. Vol. L
Freiburg, 1896.

Lanciani, Rodolfo : Pagan and Christian Rome. Boston, 1893.

Ancient Rome in the Light of Recent Discoveries. Boston, 1888.

The Ruins and Excavations of Ancient Rome. Boston, 1897.

L' Itinerario di Einsiedlen e 1' ordine di Benedetto Canonico.

Rome, 1891.

I Commentarii di Frontino intorno le acque e gli acquedotti.

Rome, 1880.

Forma Urbis Romae. Milan, 1893 sq. (XL VI sheets.)

Marangoni, Giovanni : Delle cose gentilesche e profane, trasportate

ad uso ed ornamento delle chiese. Rome, 1744.
Mommsen, Theodore : Monumenta Germaniae historica : Gesta

pontificum Romanorum. Vol. 1. Berlin, 1898.
MUntz, Eugene : Les Arts h la cour des Papes. 3 vols. (To Sixtus

IV.) Paris, 1878-1882.
Les Arts a la cour des Papes. (Innocent Vlll.-Pius III.) Paris,

1898.
Muratori, Ludovico : Rerum Italicarum Scriptores.
Nichols, F. M. : The Marvels of Rome ; or, A Picture of the Golden

City. An English version of the Mediaeval Guidebook. London,

1889.
Richter, Otto : Topographie der Stadt Rom. Noerdlingen, 1889.
Tommasini, Oreste : Delia storia medievale della Citta di Roma e dei

piu recenti raccontatori di essa : in Archivio della Societk Roraana

di Storia Patria, Vol. I., 1877.
Urlichs, C. L. : Codex urbis Romae topographicus. WUrzburg, 1871.

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY XV

PERIODICALS

^rchivio della Societa Romana di Storia Patria. Rome, from 1877.
3ullettiiio della Commissions archeologica comunale di Roma, from

1873.
BuUettino di Archeologia cristiana, edited by Giovaniai Battista de

Rossi, Vols. I.-XIIL Rome, 1863-1895.
Nuovo BuUettino di Archeologia cristiana, edited by G. B. de Rossi,

E. Stevenson, O. Marucchi. Rome, from 1895.
Mittheilungen des Kaiserlich Deutschen Archaeologischen Instituts,

Roemische Abtheilung; from 1886, following the Annali and

BuUettino, 1829-1885.
La Civiltk Cattolica. Interesting contributions by H. Grisar. See

also Grisar's Analecta Romana, Vol. I. Naples, 1899.
Melanges de I'ficole fran9aise de Rome. Rome, from 1881. Interest-
ing contributions by L. Duchesne.
Notizie degli Scavi di Antichitk. Rome, from 1876.
Roemische Quartalschrift fur Christliche Altertumskunde. Rome,

from 1887.
Studii e Document! di Storia e Diritto. Rome, from 1880.

Fig. 1. — Substructions of tlie palace of Septimius Severus.

DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

CHAPTER I

THE DESTROYERS OF AXCIENT ROME

I WAS sitting not long ago at the southern extremity of
the Palatine hill, where the remains of the palace of Sep-
timius Severus tower a hundred and sixty feet above the
level of the modern streets, and I was trying to fathom
the abyss which lay open at my feet, and to reconstruct in
imagination the former aspect of the place. By meas-
urements on the spot, compared with descriptions and
drawings left by those who saw the Palatine in a better
state of preservation, I have been able to ascertain that a
palace 490 feet long, 390 wide, and 160 high has so com-
pletely disappeared that only a few pieces of crumbling
wall are left here and there against the cliff to tell the
tale. Who broke up and removed, bit by bit, that
mountain of masonry ? Who overthrew the giant ?
Was it age, the elements, the hand of barbarians, or some
other irresistible force the action of which has escaped
observation ?

3

4 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

To answer these questions we must first try to grasp the
meaning of the words "destruction" and "disappearance"
when applied to the monuments of ancient Rome. We
are told, for instance, that 485,000 spectators could find
room in the Circus Maximus, and that, when Trajan gave
up to the people his own imperial balcony, the available
space was increased by 5000 seats. Perhaps there is an
exaggeration in these figures ; in fact, the capacity of the
Circus has been limited by Huelsen to 150,000 specta-
tors.^ But even with this reduction, we may suppose that
here 150,000 persons sat on stone or marble benches
which were made accessible by an elaborate system of
stairways; if we allow to each spectator an average
space of twenty inches, there must have been in the
Circus Maximus more than 250,000 running feet of
stone and marble benches. Not a fragment has come
down to us, and we are left in complete ignorance as to
the way in which so great a mass of solid material has
disappeared.

Near the Pantheon of Agrippa, on the border of the
pond or stagnum where Nero and Tigellinus used to
feast in a floating hall, there was a colonnade known by
the name of Eventus Bonus. Its site was unknown to
topographers until May, 1891, when a capital of great
size was discovered in the Vicolo del Melone, near the
church of S. Andrea della Valle : so great, indeed, was
that mass of marble that we were obliged to abandon it

1 Bullettino Comunale, 1894, p. 322.

THE DESTROYERS OF ANCIENT ROME 5

where it lay, on account of the danger of undermining
the neighbouring houses if we should attempt to remove
it. Whence came the great block? I found a clew to
the answer in Flarainio Vacca's account of the excava-
tions in the time of Pius IV. (1559-1566). "In laying
the foundations of the Palazzo della Valle," says Vacca,
" columns, fragments of entablatures, and other marbles
were found, among them a capital of enormous size, out
of which the coat of arms of the Pope on the Porta Pia
was chiselled." 1 A second capital was discovered under
the Ugolini house, in the Vicolo del Melone, in 1862 ;
and a third, under the Palazzo Capranica della Valle in
1876. These three capitals and the one found in 1891
were lying on a line measuring 300 feet between the
two outermost ; they all belonged to a colonnade, the
columns of which were 47 feet high, the capitals them-
selves being 6 feet high and 14 feet in circumference.
The significance of these dimensions will best be appreci-
ated by architects.

Ancient documents further mention a stadium (where
now is the Piazza Navona) with seats for 30,088 spec-
tators, an odeum (now the Monte Giordano) with 11,600
seats, the theatre of Balbus (now the Monte de' Cenci)
with 11,510 seats, and the theatre of Pompey (near the

^ Memorie di varie antichita trovate in [diversi luoghi . . . scritte da
Flaminio Vacca nel 1594, in Tea's Miscellanea, Vol. I. p. 25. Latest*
and best edition by Richter in Berichte der Sachs. Gesellschaft der
Wissenchaften, 1881, p. 43.

6 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

Campo di Fiori) with 17,580 seats. Of all these marble]
and stone buildings, no traces are left above ground.

Examples of this kind are by no means confined to
the area within the city walls. In the Life of thei
Emperor Gordianus the younger, chap. 32, a description

Fig. 2. — Torre dei Schiavi.

is given of his villa on the Via Praenestina, two and a
half miles outside the gate of that name. It contained,
among other buildings, a colonnade of two hundred
columns, fifty of which were of cipollino or Carystian
marble, fifty of portasanta, fifty of pavonazzetto or

THE DESTROYERS OF ANCIENT ROME 7

Phrygian marble, and fifty of giallo antico or Numidian ;
there were also three basilicas, each a hundred feet long,
an imperial palace, and baths which, in size and magnifi-
cence, rivalled the thermae of Rome itself. The present
state of this Villa Gordianorum is shown in our illustra-
tion (Fig. 2). Colonnade, basilicas, palace, baths, — all
have disappeared. One bit of ruin stands alone in the
wilderness, a landmark for miles around, — the Torre
dei Schiavi, a favourite meet of the foxhounds in the
Campagna.

We may grant that natural agencies have contributed
their share to the demolition of ancient buildings, — fires,
floods, earthquakes, and the slow but resistless processes
of disintegration due to rain, frost, and variations of tem-
perature ; but such prodigious changes, such wholesale
destruction, could have been accomplished only by the
hand of man.

Writers on the decline and fall of the Roman Empire
have proposed several explanations, all of which are
plausible ; all contain elements of truth. But at the
outset we may discard the current view that the dis-
appearance of Roman monuments was due to the bar-
barians — as if these, in their meteoric inroads, could
have amused themselves by pulverizing the 250,000 feet
of stone and marble seats in the Circus, for example,
or the massive structure of the villa of the Gordiani !
The purpose of the barbarians Avas to carry off such
articles of value as could easily be removed, and Rome

8 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

long remained rich enough to satisfy their greed. Later,
when this mine had become exhausted, and the houses
of the living were stripped of all their valuables, they
may have attacked the abodes of the dead, the humble
catacombs of the faithful as well as the imperial
mausoleums ; but the stanch buildings of the Republic
and of the Empire were not essentially damaged.

As we shall see in the course of our narrative, in June,
455 A.D., the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on
the Capitoline hill and the palace of the Caesars could
still be successfully plundered of movable objects. In
536 the garrison of the mole of Hadrian, which had
long ago been converted into a fortress (now the Castle
of S. Angelo), was able to check an assault of the
Goths by throwing down upon their heads the master-
pieces of Greek art which still adorned the mausoleum.
A quarter of a century later the historian Procopius
states that many statues by Phidias and Lysippus could
yet be seen in Rome.

In 630 Pope Honorius I., with the consent of the
Emperor Heraclius, removed the gilt-bronze tiles from
the roof of the temple of Venus and Rome, for the
adornment of the roof of St. Peter's ; the temple, there-
fore, was still intact. In 663, when Rome for the last
time, and to her misfortune, was visited by an emperor,
— a Christian emperor too, — a great deal was still left
to plunder. In the brief period of twelve days which
Constans spent in the city he removed many bronze

THE DESTROYERS OF ANCIENT ROME 9

statues, and laid his hands also upon the bronze tiles
of the Pantheon, although this had long since been
converted into a Christian church.

The barbarians, therefore, can be left in peace, their
part in the destruction of Rome being hardly worth con-
sidering when compared with the guilt of others. By
" others " I mean the Romans themselves, of the Imperial,
Byzantine, Mediaeval, and Renaissance periods.

CHAPTER II

THE TRANSFORMATION OF REPUBLICAN ROME BY
THE EMPERORS

The growth of a city involves the readjustraent of
its edifices, public and private, to the needs of a popu-
lation living under new conditions ; and in a certain
sense we may say that the history of the destruction
of Rome begins with the reign of Augustus, who
undertook to transform the capital of the Empire from
a city of bricks into a city of marble. In widening
and draining the old streets, in opening new thorough-
fares, in building the new quarters, and in carrying
out a general scheme for the sanitation and embellish-
ment of the metropolis, many historical monuments
were sacrificed. To clear the space for the erection of
the theatre of Marcellus, for example, the shrine of
Pietas was destroyed, so dear to the Romans on account
of the legend of the faithful daughter who, with the
milk of her breast, kept alive the father sentenced to
death by starvation in the old Decem viral jail.^ Dion
Cassius adds that many houses and temples were de-
molished to make room for this structure ; that many

1 Pliny, Hist. Nat. VII. 36, 121.

xo

TRANSFORMATION OF REPUBLICAN ROME

11

statues of the gods, of ancient workmanship, carved in
wood and stone, shared the fate of the temples ; and
that the builders of the theatre were suspected of
having appropriated the gold and valuables stored
away in the vaults (^favissae) of the sacred edifices. ^
The example set by Augustus was followed by his
wealthy friends, Marcius Philippus, Lucius Cornificius,
Cornelius Balbus, and Statilius Taurus ; but Agrippa

Fig. 3. -

■R.L

Section of steps of the round temple of the Forum Boarium, showing
earlier and later construction.

surpassed them all in the number and splendour of
his buildings. 2 We may compare the work of these
men with that of the popes and cardinals of the
seventeenth century, who modernised our Constantin-
ian and mediaeval churches ; but there is this differ-

1 Dion Cassius, XLIII. 49.

2 Suetonius, Octav. 29.

12

DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

ence, that while the renovation of the seventeenth
century was without excuse and had no redeeming-
feature, Augustus and his friends did, at least, substi-
tute masterpieces of Greco-Roman construction, of the
purest type, for the earlier structures of brick or
rough stone.

This change may best be studied, perhaps, in the
so-called temple of the Mater Matuta in the Forum
Boarium, afterwards the church of S. Stefano delle

Carozze, now S. Maria
del Sole, in the Piazza
Bocca della Verita.
Here we see the stone
steps leading to the
stone cella of the time of
Camillus, covered, but
not entirely concealed,
by the marble steps
and the marble cella of
the time of Augustus
(Fig. 3). In excavat-
ing strata of rubbish of
the time of Augustus,
„ ^ . „ ^ t ■ ^. A4. ** such as the platform of

Fig. 4. — Fragment of painted terra cotta ^

antefix from the temple of Jupiter Optimus the Gardens of Maece-

Maxiraus. r i /^ •

nas, or that oi the Capi-

tolium, we have actually picked up fragments from

temples of the time of the Kings, dumped there with

TRANSFORMATION OF REPUBLICAN ROME

13

other materials to raise the level of the ground. Such
are the antefixes of painted terra cotta from the temple
of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, now in the Palazzo
de' Conservatori,! and the
roof-tiles from another shrine
on the Esquiline, in tlie
Museo Municipale al Celio.^
In the early centuries of
Rome sacred edifices Avere
built of wood, and orna-
mented with panels, cornices,
and tiles of terra cotta with
polychrome decoration. A

structure of this kind was Fig. 5. — Fragment of painted tile
T ^ J.1 -i. r from an early temple on the Esqui-

discovered on the site or jj^^ j *> h

Falerii, Civita Castellana, in

1886 ; the remains of it are exhibited in one of the

halls of the Villa di Giulio III., outside the Porta del

Popolo.^

In tracing the history of the destruction of the Rome
of the Kings and of the Republic at the hands of the
Emperors, three facts become prominent : (1) the com-
plete covering over, for hygienic reasons, and conse-

1 Bull. Com., 1896, p. 187, PI. xii.-xiii. (see Fig. 4).

2 Ibid., 1896, p. 28 (see Fig. 5).

8 Monumenti antichi publicati per cura della reale Accad. dei Lincei,
Vol. IV., 1895,

14 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

quent elevation, of large tracts of land ; (2) the r
building, on a totally different plan, of one or more quar-
ters of the City, after a destructive fire ; and (3) the
clearing of large areas to make room for the great
thermae, — those of Nero, Titus, Trajan, . Caracalla,
the Decii, Diocletian, and Constantine.

The first record that we have of the covering over
and elevation of a large area for hygienic reasons dates
from the time of Augustus. A part of the Esquiline
hill was occupied at that time by a "-field of death,"
where the bodies of slaves and beggars and of crimi-
nals who had undergone capital punishment were
thrown into common pits (^puticuli}, together with the
carcasses of domestic animals and beasts of burden.
In the excavations made in laying out the Via Napo-
leone III., in 1887, about seventy-five of these pits
were discovered. In some of them the animal remains
had been reduced to a uniform mass of black, unctuous
matter ; in others the bones so far retained their shape
that they could be identified. The field of death
served also as a dumping place for the daily refuse of
the city.i This hotbed of infection was suppressed by
Augustus at the suggestion of his prime minister
Maecenas. The district was buried under fresh earth
to the depth of 2-4 feet, and a public park, a fifth of
a mile in extent, was laid out on the newly made
ground. The results proved of so great benefit to the

J Ancient Home in the Light of Hecent Discoveries, p. 64.

TRANSFORMATION OF REPUBLICAN ROME 15

health of the City that Horace thought the work
worthy to be sung in verse. In the quaint, though
by no means literal, translation of Francis QSat. I. vin.
8 et seq.) : —

In coffins vile the herd of slaves

Were hither brought to crowd their graves;

And once in this detested ground

A common tomb the vulgar found;

Buffoons and spendthrifts, vile and base,

Together rotted here in peace.

A thousand feet the front extends,

Three hundred deep in rear it bends,

And yonder column plainly shows

No more unto its heirs it goes.

But now we breathe a purer air,

And walk the sunny terrace fair,

Where once the ground with bones was white, —

With human bones, a ghastly sight!

In process of time recourse was had to the same expe-
dient in the case of other cemeteries within or near the
walls of Aurelian. The twenty-four million cubic feet
of earth and rock, removed by Trajan from the west
slope of the Quirinal to make room for his Forum, were
spread over the cemetery between the Via Salaria Vetus
(Pinciana) and the Via Salaria Nova.^ The Licinian
Gardens — a portion of the great imperial park on the
Esquiline, formerly owned by the Licinian family —
were laid out, likewise, on the site of the cemetery

^ Pagan and Christian Bome, p. 284.

16 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROMfi

between the Via Collatina and Via Labicana. The
same fate befell the beautiful burial-grounds of the
Via Aurelia, now occupied by the Villa Corsini-Pamfili,
near the Casino dei Quattro Venti.^ No injury was
done to the tombs when the earth was heaped upon
them ; their sacred character protected them from sacri-
lege, and the cinerary urns, the inscriptions, and the
more or less valuable furniture of the sepulchres were
left undisturbed. The excavation of these cemeteries
in modern times has proved to be exceptionally rich in
finds.

The vast conflagrations which from time to time swept
over the city were in reality a means of improvement,
both from the aesthetic and from the hygienic point of
view. Such was the fire described by Livy in the
twenty-seventh chapter of Book XXVI., by which all
the shops and houses around the Forum, the residence
of the high priest, the fish-market, and the buildings in
the region of the Lautumiae were destroyed. The
district was rebuilt on a better and more sanitary plan.
This historian describes another fire (XXIV. 47), by
which the region of the Forum Boarium, from the
foot of the Aventine to the present Piazza Montanara,
was devastated in 213 B.C. ; and again in 192 B.C. the
same quarter was burned over. I saw traces of the
fires last mentioned in April, 1886, when the main

Pagan and Christian Borne, p. 269.

TRANSFORMATION OF REPUBLICAN ROME 17

sewer on the left bank of the Tiber was built at a
great depth across the piazza Bocca della Verita. There
were remains of early Republican structures nine feet
below the level of the piazza, and upon them was a
bed of ashes and charred materials. The buildings of
a later period, above the bed of ashes, had a different
orientation.

When the Emperor Nero conceived the idea of re-
newing and rebuilding the capital of the Empire, the
streets were crowded with shrines, altars, and small
temples which religious superstition made inviolable ;
his plans of improvement were opposed by the priests
and by private owners of property, and any attempt
to carry them out was clearly destined to lead to end-
less lawsuits, appraisals, and disputes among the ex-
perts. So he seems to have solved the difficulty by
having the city set on fire, in the year 64 A.D. Nero
was at Antium when the conflagration began, on June
18, the anniversary of the burning of Rome by the Gauls
in 390 B.C. The fire started at the east end of the
Circus Maximus, at the place now called La Moletta ;
it spread in a northeasterly direction and swept over
three out of the fourteen regions of the city, partially
destroying seven others. We do not possess satisfac-
tory information in regard to all the historic monu-
ments that perished in the flames, but we know that
among them were the temple of the Moon, the founda-
tion of which was ascribed to Servius Tullius, the Ara

18 DESTKUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

Maxima, dedicated to Hercules, tradition said by Evan-
der, the Arcadian ; and the temples of Jupiter Statar,
of Vesta, and of the Penates, together with the Regia. ^
As these monuments encircled the Palatine hill, we
may assume that the imperial residence on its summit
was also gutted, but evidence on this point is want-
ing. Countless masterpieces of Greek art and manj'^
ancient relics disappeared, the loss of which the older
citizens never ceased to lament, even amidst the splen-
dour of the new city which rose from the ashes.

The charge that Nero had wilfully caused the fire is
neither accepted nor rejected by Tacitus, from wh6m we
learn that, after it had once been arrested, it burst out
again in the Praedia Aemiliana, the gardens of Nero's
minion, Tigellinus. Dyer suggests that the emperor
merely improved the occasion to have the fire already
< started spread more widely and efface certain parts of
the city, which he wished to rebuild. But whether
the emperor was wholly or partially responsible for the
conflagration, tlie opportunity thus afforded for rebuild-
ing was at once improved ; new plans were immediatel}''
drawn in accordance with the best engineering and
architectural practice of the time. By glancing at the
narrow and tortuous streets and lanes in the marble plan
of the time of Septimius Severus, now in the Capitoline
Museum, one may see that Nero's projects can hardly have
been fully carried out ; they must have left untouched
the lower and more congested quarters of the city.

TRANSFORMATION OF REPUBLICAN ROME

19

In May, 1877, I myself saw a strip of land which
showed traces of this fearful conflagration. While
the main sewer which drains the Esquiline and the
region about the Coliseum was being built between
the arch of Constantino and the site of the Circus
Maximus, the workmen came across remains of houses,
sliops, and shrines on both sides of a street, neatly paved

(21.87) ^ J f, ii , ,

In ^ni . -"-< w:^-^^!^^-^^ WfcC-::. I*r>i BSiii»i.= j^^ffr ^tveLle^oreWeTo'i fire. 3 5 v-j.-"/

(io,i6) -nWTrtimW^irt.THipinrrfij.niidiX.Iito
[^Athl-^ci otovc Sea) .Je^ve-Y of tkc fvTn^ of tt^e Xuvk)S

Fig. (). — Section of excavations in the Via di S. Gregorio, showing changes

of level.

Avith flagstones and lined by sidewalks, thirty-five feet
below the present level of the ground.

The street had apparently descended from the south-
east corner of the Palatine where now is the Vigna Bar-
berini, toward the foot of the Clivus Scauri, now the
Piazza di S. Gregorio. From this place, at any rate, the
debris of Nero's fire were not, as might have been in-
ferred from the statement of Tacitus,^ carted away to the

Ann. XV. 43: Buderi accipiendo Ostienses paludes dpstinahat,
utiqiie naves, quae frumentum Tiberi subvectassent, onustae rudere decur-
rerent.

20 DESTRUCTION OP ANCIENT ROME

marshes of Ostia, but were spread on the spot ; in this
way the level of the valley was raised at once by ten or
fifteen feet. The sectional plan presented above (Fig. 6),
which I made at the time of these excavations, shows the
superposition of streets and buildings before and after
the fire ; the altitudes are given in metres.

For the names of Nero's chief advisers and archi-
tects in the rebuilding of the city, Severus and Celer,
we are indebted to Tacitus, who says of them that
they were clever and daring enough to undertake, by
artificial means, works the accomplishment of which
nature would have denied.

A fragment of the marble mausoleum of Celer still
exists in the garden of S. Agnese fuori le Mura, on
the Via Nomentana (Fig. 7) . The epitaph was brief but
full of dignity ^ : —

CELERI • NERONIS • AVGVSTI • L[iberto] • A[rchitect]0

The block containing it was removed from the tomb
by Pope Symmachus (498-514), who turned it into a
capital for one of the columns of S. Agnese.

The importance of fires for the architectural history
of Rome in the imperial period may easily be under-
stood if we recall the changes caused by this means in
the Forum from the time of Nero to that of Diocletian.
Four times during this period the centre of Rome and

1 Fabretti, Inscriptiones domesticae, p. 721, no. 431 ; cf. C. I. L.
VI. 14,647.

TRANSFOKMATION OF REPUBLICAN ROME

21

of the Roman world, the celeberrimvs • vrbis • locvs,
as it is called in an inscription, ^ was swept by flames ;
four times it was rebuilt on a different plan. First
came the fire of Nero, just alluded to ; then the fire of

Fig. 7. — Frasment of the tomb of Celer.

the reign of Titus, in 80 A.D., the damages of which
were repaired by Domitian. The third occurred shortly
before the death of Commodus, in 191 a.d. ; the build-

1 Ephemeris EpigrapMca, Vol. III., 1876, p. 287.

22 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

I

ings were restored by Septimius Severus, his empress
Julia Domna, and his son Caracalla, who shifted by
thirty-three degrees the orientation of the edifices bor-
dering on the Clivus Sacer. We have no detailed
account of the conflagration in the reign of Carinus,
283 A.D., but to judge from the repairs made by Dio-
cletian and Maxentius, affecting the Basilica Julia, the
Senate-house, the Forum Julium, and the temple of
Venus and Rome, it must have swept from one end of
the Sacra Via to the other.

The third and last of the more important factors in
the transformation and destruction of Rome under the
Empire was the building of the great public baths. The
thermae of Caracalla cover an area of 118,255 square
metres, those of Diocletian 130,000 square metres; and
the areas of both these great structures were occupied,
before 212 and 305/6 a.d. respectively, by rich and popu-
lous quarters, with houses and insulae, temples, shrines,
colonnades, and gardens. The buildings which stood on
a higher level than that adopted for one of these bath-
ing establishments were destroyed to the foundations;
the materials of construction taken from them were
saved and were made use of again in the new struc-
ture. But the buildings placed on a lower level were
left standing to a height corresponding with that of
the foundation of the thermae, and simply buried.
This practice explains the reason why we find in some

TRANSFORMATION OF REPUBLICAN ROME 23

places structures of two, three, and even four different
periods lying in archaeological strata one above the
other.

The palace of the Flavian emperors on the Palatine
rests on the remains of private houses of the end
of the Republic ; these, made accessible in 1721, are
wrongly termed Baths of Livia. The thermae of Titus
and of Trajan are built on remains of the Golden
House of Nero, and this last was extended over the
remains of houses built before the fire of 64 A.d. ; the
three strata can be easily recognised at the north en-
trance to the cryptoporticus of the Golden House.

The Baths of Caracalla were composed of a central
building surrounded by a garden, with an outer enclos-
ure lined with halls and rooms for bathing. Nothing
is found under the built portion, because the founda-
tions of the massive walls were of necessity carried
down to the level of the virgin soil ; but in the open
spaces, at a depth of only a few inches below the sur-
face, are found remains of extensive houses and other
buildings which Caracalla purcliased and covered up.^

When the Via Nazionale, the main thoroughfare of
modern Rome, was cut in 1877 across the ridge of the
Quirinal, — then occupied by the Aldobrandini and Ros-
pigliosi gardens, — the workmen first brought to light
remains of the thermae of Constantine ; underneath

1 A part of one of these houses, excavated in 1860-1867 by Guidi, is
shown in litiins and Excavations, Fig. 39.

24 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

I

these were remains of tlie house of Claudius Claudi-
anus and of another once belonging to Avidius Quietus ;
and lastly, on a lower level, were walls of early reticulate
work (Fig. 8).

Subsequent excavations on the site of the same baths
have given us the means of reconstructing the map of
this part of the Quirinal prior to the time of Constan-
tine, and of obtaining a list, possibly complete, of the
public and private buildings purchased and demolished
by this Emperor in or about 315 a.d. The list com-
prises the palaces of T. Flavins Claudius Claudianus
and of T. Avidius Quietus already mentioned ; the pal-
ace and gardens of a C. Art(orius?) Germanianus,
of a Claudia Vera, of a Lucius Naevius Clemens, of a
Marcus Postumius Festus ; and a sacred edifice, the
roof of which was made of marble tiles. These tiles
Constantine's architect made use of in laying the foun-
dations of the Caldarium, from which we dug them
out, one by one, in 1879. They were all marked with
a number, so that, in making repairs, the roof could
be taken off and put together again without difficulty
by observing the sequence of the figures. In another
part of the same foundations we found many fragments
of statues and sculptured marbles built, as common
materials, into the rubble work.

A similar statement would hold good for the Baths
of Diocletian. The excavations made within the limits
of this immense structure since 1870 in connexion

TRANSFORMATION OF REPUBLICAN ROME 27

with work on the railway station, the Piazza dei
Cinquecento, the Grand Hotel, and the Massimi palace,
as well as the cutting of streets and the laying out
of new gardens, have brought to light the remains of
several preexisting edifices, — among them the offices
of a Collegium Fortunae Felicis, and a temple built on
foundations of concrete ; a colonnade or shrine rebuilt
by Gnaeus Sentius Saturninus ; pavements of streets,
walls of private houses, and a reservoir. The materials
of all these buildings, brick and marble, were used over
again in the foundations of the baths.

CHAPTER III

THE USE OF EARLIER MATERIALS, PARTICULARLY
MARBLES, IN THE BUILDING OPERATIONS OF THE
LATER EMPIRE

The practice of building walls with architectural
marbles, blocks containiug inscriptions, statues, and other
fine materials from previous structures, goes at least
as far back as the reign of Septimius Severus (193-
I 211 A.D.). The propylaea of the Porticus Octaviae
I were restored by him, in the year 203, with sculptured
fragments from edifices damaged or ruined by the
I fire of Titus. The upper story of the Coliseum was
' likewise restored by Severus Alexander in 223, and by
Traianus Decius in 250, with a patchwork of stones
of every description, — trunks of columns, fragments of
entablatures, lintels and doorposts taken from the
amphitheatre itself, which had been damaged by fire,
or brought from other buildings ; several of the frag-
ments can be recognised in the accompanying illus-
trations (Figs. 9, 10).

Another instance of certain date is that of a private

bathing establishment discovered January 30, 1873, at

y the junction of the Via Ariosto with the Piazza Dante

28

USE OF EARLIER MATERIALS

29

on the Esquiline. It was a graceful little building,
dating from the time of Diocletian and Constantine, as
proved by hundreds of brick stamps of that period
found in the walls above ground. The walls below the

Fig. it.

- Part of the upper story of the Coliseum, repaired
with materials from earlier buildings.

surface were built of statues and miscellaneous frag-
ments of marble. There were life-size or semi-colossal
figures of Minerva, of the Indian Bacchus and of
Aesculapius, besides several torsos and other fragments

30

DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

of considerable value ; a column shaped like the lictor's
fasces, with capital and base ; and the basin of a foun-
tain in pure Greek style. ^

A more familiar illustration is the triumphal arch oi
Constantine, erected by the Meta Sudans in 315 a.d.
This monument, so compact and perfect to the eye, is

Fic. 10. — Another view of the upper story of the Coliseum, showing repairs
made with architectural fragments from various sources.

really a striking example of the way in which old
structures were pillaged to erect new ones. If we
climb to the chamber above the arch (there is a nar-

^Bull. Com., 1875, p. 79, Tav. XI. Fig. 1, 2; Helbig, Guide to the
Public Collections of Classical Antiquities in Borne, Vol. I. p. 444,
no. 601-

USE OF EARLIER MATERIALS Si

row staircase in the side facing the Palatine), we shall
see why Milizia gave it the nickname of Cornacchia di
Esopo, "Aesop's crow." We shall find that the bas-
reliefs of the attic, the statues of the Dacian kings,
the eight medallions above the side passages, the eight
columns of giallo antico, and the greater part of the ^
entablature were removed from a triumphal arch of
Trajan, probably the arcus divi Traiani which spanned
the Via Appia (or the Via Nova) near the Porta
Capena. The inside of the structure also is built with
a great variety of materials taken from the tombs of
the Fabii and of the Arruntii, the carvings and in-
scriptions of which are still perfect.

Under the rule of Constantine, the dismantling of
earlier buildings for the sake of their materials became
a common practice ; this statement, startling as it may
appear, will not be considered extravagant by any one
who has read Ciampini's "De sacris aedificiis a Con-
stantino magno constructis," ^ or Marangoni's " Delle
cose gentilesche e profane trasportate ad uso delle
chiese,"2 or Grimaldi's "Diary of the Destruction of
Old St. Peter's." 3

After the defeat of Maxentius, in the year 312,
Constantine "erected a basilica over the tomb of the
blessed Peter."* This was built hurriedly, and in its

1 Romae, per I. Jacobum Komarck, 1693, in fol.

2 Romae, 1744, in 4°. « Cod. Barberin, XXXIV. 50.
* Liber Pontificalis, Sylvester, XVI. p. 176.

32 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

construction first of all a part of the adjoining circus'
of Caligula and Nero was utilised. The left wing of
the sacred edifice was carried over the three northern
walls of the circus, which had supported the seats of
the spectators on the side of the Via Cornelia. The
columns for the basilica were brought together from all
quarters. In one of the note-books of Antonio da
Sangallo the younger,^ I found a memorandum of the
quality, size, colour, and other details in regard to one
hundred and thirty-six shafts. Nearly all the ancient
quarries were represented in the collection, not to
speak of styles and periods. Grimaldi says that he
could not find two capitals or two bases alike. He
adds that the architrave and frieze differed from one
intercolumniation to another, and that some of the
blocks bore inscriptions with the names and praises
of Titus, Trajan, Gallienus, and others. The walls of
the basilica, except the apse and the arches, were
patched with fragments of tiles and of stone. On each
side of the first entrance, at the foot of the steps, were
two granite columns, with composite capitals showing the
bust of the Emperor Hadrian framed in acanthus leaves.

In the construction of all the Christian buildings of
the fourth century we may well believe that there was
a similar indebtedness to pagan sources. Some of these
edifices, as the church of S. Agnese and the adjoin-
ing mausoleum of Constantia on the Via Nomentana,
1 These note-books are now in the Uffizi, Florence.

USE OF EARLIER MATERIALS 33

the church of St. Lawrence on the Via Tiburtina, and
the church of S. Clemente, are still standing within or
without the walls. Additional proof may be found
in the accounts left by those who saw the Basilica
Salvatoris in Laterano, and that of St. Paul on the
road to Ostia, before their modernisation. In some
instances the location and use of blocks of marble have
been changed three or four times. A pedestal of a
statue erected in the year 193 in the town hall of some
municipality in the vicinity of Rome, was utilised in the
restoration of the Baths of Caracalla in 285. Rufius
Volusianus, prefect of the City in 365, removed the
block from the Baths and turned it into a monument
in honour of Valentinian I. It seems finally to have
disappeared about 1548 in a lime-kiln of Pope Paul III.i
The great department of imperial administration called
"Department of Marbles" (statio marmorum), apparently
suspended operations before the middle of the fourth
century ; at any rate we have been unable to find any
structure built after the time of Constantine with ma-
terials fresh from the quarry. This is the more re-
markable in view of the fact that on the banks of the
Tiber at the marble wharves (La Marmorata) and on
those of Trajan's channel (Canale di Fiumicino), where
the marbles belonging to the Emperor or to private im-
porters were landed, there still remained a vast number
of unused blocks. These two sources of supply have
' C. I. L. VL 1173.

34 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

been drawn upon by means of excavations almost unin-
terruptedly since the time of the Cosmatis, and yet
their wealth in blocks and columns of the rarest kinds
of breccias seems hardly to have diminished. The
Romans of the fourth century, however, emperors as
well as private citizens, thought it less troublesome to
rob the splendid monuments of the Republic and early
Empire of their ornaments already carved, and to trans-
fer these to their own clumsy structures, than to work
anew the materials stored at La Marmorata. Abundant
evidence on this point may be gained, not merely from
ecclesiastical, but also from secular structures, as the
four-faced arch of the Forum Boarium, the temple of
Saturn on the Clivus Capitolinus, the bridges of Cestius
(S. Bartolomeo) and of Valentinian (Ponte Sisto), the
Grain Exchange at the church of S. Maria in Cos-
medin, the arena and podium of the Coliseum, the
Portions Maximae of Gratian, the monumental columns
on the Sacra Via, the market-hall of the Caelian (S.
Stefano Rotondo), the market-place of the Esquiline near
S. Vito, the shops at the east of the Forum Romanum,
and a hundred other buildings of the Decadence.

There are on record several edicts of Constantius II.
(350-361) having to do with the compulsory closing
of heathen temples. According to Libanius he often
made a present of a temple, just as one might give
away a dog or a horse ; and Ammianus makes men-
tion of some courtiers who had received gifts of this

USE OF EARLIER MATERIALS 35

kind.i But the fate of pagan edifices and their precious
works of art was sealed in the year 383, when Gratian
did away with all the privileges of the temples and
priests, and confiscated their revenues. Eight years later
Valentinian and Theodosius prohibited sacrifices, even
if strictly domestic and private.

These decisive measures led to open rebellion on the
part of those who still clung to the ancient beliefs,
but after the defeat of the rebel leader Eugenius,
which took place early in September, 394, the temples
were closed forever. Strange to say, this prohibition
of the pagan worship contributed for the time being
to the embellishment of certain parts of the City, such
as the forums, the baths, and the courts of justice,
where the statues of the gods, expelled from their
august seats, were set up and exhibited simply as works
of art.2 This is referred to in the words which
Prudentius puts into the mouth of Theodosius, when
addressing the Senate after the defeat of Eugenius
(Contra Sym. I. 501-505): —

Marmora tabenti respergitie tincta lavate,

O proceres, liceat statuas consistere pui-as

Artificum maguorum opera : haec pulcherrima nostrae

Oruamenta fuant patriae nee decolor usus

In vitium versae monumenta coinquinet artis.

1 See Dyer, History of the City of Borne, ed. of 1865, p. 308.

2 Interesting information on tliis subject will be found in C. /. L.
Vol. VI. Part I. ; see also de Rossi's papers in Bull, di archeologia
cristiana, 1865, p. 5, and Bull. Com., 1874, p. 174.

36 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

The practice of removing statuary from places of
worship to civil edifices is, however, older by half a
century than the decree of 394. As early as the year
331 Anicius Paulinus, prefect of the City, transferred
statues to the thermae of the Decii on the Aventine
<iO. I. L. VI. 1651); Fabius Titianus lined the Sacra
Via with other examples of the sculptor's art in 339-
341 ; in the same way Fabius Felix Passifilus Paulinus
embellished the Baths of Titus in 355, Clodius Hermo-
genianus the Baths of Trajan in 368-370. The Basilica
Julia was likewise ornamented with borrowed statues
by Gabinius Vettius Probianus in 377 ; parts of the
pedestals on which five of them stood have come to
light ((7. /. L. VI. 1658), and contain inscriptions with
the formula, statuam quae basilieae Juliae a se noviter
reparatae ornamento esset, adiecit. Some of these mas-
terpieces were of Greek origin ; one was attributed to
Praxiteles, the others to Polyclitus, Timarchus, and
Bryaxis.

From inscriptions we learn also that in later times
statues were overthrown by the barbarians in their in-
cursions, and by the citizens in civil strifes. A pedes-
tal discovered in the fifteenth century near S. Maria
Nuova, at the top of the Clivus Sacer, bore the in-
scription : Castalius Innocentius Audax v(ir) cQarissimus)
praef(^ectus) urhis .... harharica incursione suhlata resti-
tuit {C. I. L. VI. 1663). Another, discovered during
the pontificate of Julius III. (1550-1555), speaks of a

USE OF EARLIER MATERIALS 37

statue of Minerva that had been thrown down at the
time of a fire caused by a riot, and set up again
by Anicius Acilius Aginatius, apparently in 483 a.d.
((7. I. L. VI. 1664).

To what use the temples were put immediately after
the expulsion of their gods, we do not know; but it is
certain that they were not occupied by Christians, nor
turned into places of Christian worship. This change
was only to take place two centuries later, when the
scruples about the propriety of worshipping the true
God in heathen temples had been overcome.

In the year 609, Pope Boniface IV. "asked the
Emperor Phocas for the temple which was called Pan-
theon, and turned it into a church of Mary the Virgin
ever blessed." Two periods, then, may be distinguished
in the converting of pagan edifices into places of Chris-
tian worship, one anterior to the year 609, the other
following that date. During the first, civil edifices
alone were transformed, partially or completely, into
, churches; such were the Record Office, which became
the church of SS. Cosmas and Damian, and the round
market on the Caelian Hill, now S. Stefano Rotondo.
After 609 almost every available building, whether secu-
lar or sacred, was made into a church or chapel, until
the places of worship seemed to outnumber the houses.

We must not imagine, however, that the good-will
of the emperors and the guardianship of the prefects of
the City saved all statues from destruction. Far from

38 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

it ! Public protection was extended only to the works
of art which adorned the streets, squares, baths, parks,
and public buildings, few in number when compared
with the thousands upon thousands that belonged to
private owners. A special magistrate was appointed
to take charge of this branch of public administration,
under the title of Curator Statuarum, " Keeper of Stat-
ues " ; but the office was not long kept up. King
Theoderic and his adviser Cassiodorius revived it in
the year 500, in order to save the statues from the
hands of lime-burners, stone-cutters, and masons, the
three bodies of marble-hunters mentioned by Cassio-
dorius (Variar. VII. 13). The Curator Statuarum
then had the help of two assessors, — one to protect
the abandoned buildings from illegal plundering,
the other to control the lime-kilns ; and yet Theo-
deric himself caused the columns and marbles of
the Domus Pinciana to be removed from Rome to
Ravenna.^

The destruction of marble statuary may well be
illustrated by the fate of the pretiosissima deorum
simulacra^ "most precious images of the gods," placed
by Augustus in the compital shrines at the crossings
of the main thoroughfares of the City, in the years
10-7 B.C. The number of these shrines — about two
hundred in the time of Augustus — had been increased
to two hundred and sixty-five in 73 A.D., and to

^ Cassiod. Variar. III. 10, ed. Mommsen.

USE OF EARLIER MATERIALS 39

three hundred and twenty-four at the beginning of
the fourth century. They oifered an almost complete
chronological series of works of Greek plastic art to
the appreciation of the citizens of Rome. What has
become of all these " most precious images " ? If we
consider that only one plinth and four pedestals^ of
that incomparable series have come down to us, we
cannot doubt that the three hundred and twenty-four
" most precious images " of Greek workmanship belong-
ing to the compital shrines shared the same fate as
those from the temples, — they were broken to pieces,
and the pieces thrown into the lime-kilns, or built into
the walls of new buildings, as if they were the cheapest
rubble.

Foundation walls built up in part of statues and
busts have been found by the score. I add here
a few examples from the " Memoirs " of Flaminio Vacca
(1594) and of Pietro Sante Bartoli (about 1675). ^

"A foundation wall which runs under the hospital of
St. John Lateran," Vacca reports, " is built entirely of
fragments of excellent statuary. I saw there knees and

1 The plinth was discovered in 1896, near the so-called temple of
Mater Matuta (S. Maria del Sole) in the piazza Bocca della VeritL It
belonged to a celebrated work of Scopas the younger, being inscribed
opvs scoPAE MiNORis, — a statue of Hercules, surnamed Olivarius from
the location of the shrine near the Olive Market. See Huelsen, " II Foro
Boario," in Dissert. Accad. archeol. Serie II. Vol. VI. p. 261. I have
described the four pedestals in Pagan and Christian Borne, pp. 34, 35.

2 Edited by Fea in Vol. I. of the Miscellanea, Rome, 1790.

40 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

elbows modelled in the style of the Laocoon of the Belve-
dere" (Mem. p. 13). Further, "In the walls and foun-
dations of an old house, which stood near S. Lorenzo
fuori le Mura, and was pulled down to make room for
a square in front of that church, eighteen or twenty
portrait-busts of emperors were discovered. Most of
them were removed to the Farnese Gallery " (ibid.
p. 14). And again, "A great block of masonry was
levelled to the ground in the vineyard of Hannibal
Caro, outside the Porta San Giovanni, for the improve-
ment of the plantation. A complete set of busts of
the twelve Caesars, as well as of other emperors, a
marble sarcophagus bearing bas-reliefs of the twelve
labours of Hercules, and other fine marbles were found
embedded in the masonry. I have forgotten what be-
came of the busts ; the front of the sarcophagus, how-
ever, was cut away and sent to Nuvolara, a villa of
Monsignor Visconti," on the left bank of the Po
(ibid. p. 48).

" When the Via Graziosa was opened in 1684," says
Bartoli, "along the north slope of the Cespian, opposite
S. Lorenzo in Panisperna, remains of ancient houses
were found, ^ and fragments of an exquisite statue of
Venus built into a wall. The statue was afterwards
restored by Ercole Ferrata for Queen Christine of
Sweden" (Mem. p. 17). Finally, "In exploring the
cellar of a house on the Corso, the famous architect,

1 See Euins and Excavations, p. 393, Fig. 149.

USE OF EARLIER MATERIALS 41

Lorenzo Bernini, discovered seven statues broken in
pieces and built into a wall. The statues were restored
almost perfectly, so few were the fragments missing"
(ibid. p. 42).

Francesco de' Ficoroni saw, in the year 1693, "a very
great number of fragments of the most beautiful stat-
ues, which had served as building materials " for the
foundations of the Torre di Nona, near the bridge of
S. Angelo (Mem. p. 2). The same archaeologist speaks
of blocks of alabaster discovered, in 1705, under the
last tower of the City Avails on the left bank of the
Tiber, by the Monte Testaccio. One of the blocks of
alabastro fiorito was cut into slabs and used in the
decoration of the front of the altar of the JMadonna del
Sasso in the Pantheon (ibid. p. 105). A replica of the
Laocoon is known to be buried in the substructures of
the church of S. Pudentiana, and a fine statue of colossal
size under S. Marcello.

Were I to relate my personal experience in the way
of similar finds, the entire volume would hardly suffice
for the narrative. In all sorts of places, both within
and without the walls of the City, I have come across
fragments of statuary used as rubble, in the older
strata as well as in those of later periods. Two or
three instances must answer for all.

Toward the end of the second or the beginning of
the third century, a colony of Greek sculptors came to
Rome from Aphrodisias, in Caria, and set up a studio

42 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

on the Esquiline hill, between the Baths of Titus and
the gardens of Maecenas. They were active artists
indeed, and worked harmoniously under the mastership
of a leader, whom they called ap'xiepev'i (high priest).
One day their workshop and their exhibition rooms
came to grief ; whether by fire, or by the fall of the
building, or by violence of men, I cannot tell. In the
spring of 1886, when the Via Buonarroti was being cut
through in the direction of the Baths of Titus, a wall
was discovered entirely built with the contents of the
studio. There were statues of Jupiter, Juno, Pluto,
Aesculapius, Cybele, Minerva Parthenos, Hercules ; bac-
chic vases, fountains, mouths of wells, candelabras,
figures of animals, bas-reliefs, and other carvings ; and
nearly all the works were signed by one of the mem-
bers of this artistic brotherhood from Aphrodisias —
seventeen signatures in all. The fact that no essential
portions of each work were missing shows that they
were brought entire to the scene of destruction, and
then broken up and thrown into a foundation wall.

Two years and a half later, in November, 1888, a
discovery of the same kind was made on the site of
the temple of Isis, now crossed by the Via Michel-
angelo, the Via Galileo, Via Leopardi, and other streets.
Another wall was found containing three or four hun-
dred fragments of sculpture, out of which fourteen
statues, or important portions of statues, have been
reconstructed. They represent Jupiter, Serapis, Isis

USE OF EARLIER MATERIALS 43

crowned with poppies and ears of grain, and the same
goddess veiled, with a crescent on her. forehead ; there
are also three replicas of the same type, and a female
figure wearing the Egyptian head-dress, probably a por-
trait-statue. These marbles are, beyond doubt, spoils
from the great temple close by, hammered and broken
and utilised as building materials, after the closing of
the temple itself. Apparently the sanctuary supplied
marbles and stone to the whole neighbourhood for cen-
turies. At the foot of the platform on which it stood
another wall was found in December, 1888, built with
blocks of amethyst breccia (breccia ametistma), amount-
ing in all to twenty or twenty-five cubic feet.

In 1884, while collecting specimens of rare marbles,
to be exhibited in the Museo Urbano in the Orto
Botanico, I was shown a beautiful piece of purplish
granite, with oval spots resembling in shape and colour
those of a leopard's skin, which had just been discov-
ered under the Hickson Field palace, on the Via Meru-
lana. As the block was not entirely shapeless, but
bore marks of the chisel on one side, it was given to
me with the stipulation that if, in the future, other
pieces of the same object should be found, the donation
should be cancelled. Two years later, when the con-
vent of the Cluny Sisters was being built, at a distance
of six hundred feet from the Field palace, what should
be brought to light but the missing portions of that
very work of art ! It was a beautiful and nearly per-

I

44

DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

feet replica of the sacred cow, Hathor, — the symbol of
Isis, — seemingly copied from the original, discovered in
1884 among the ruins of the temple of Isis in the Campus
Martius. After such instances of the destruction and
dispersion of statuary, can we wonder at the fate of

..^Jt^

V

Fig. 11. — a statue, broken into fragments, in process of reconstruction.

the Farnese Hercules, the torso of which was found in
the Baths of Caracalla, the head at the bottom of a
well in the Trastevere, and the legs at Bovillae, ten
miles from Rome ?

USE OF EARLIER MATERIALS 45

In the accompanying illustration (Fig. 11) we see
in process of reconstruction a statue of Victory that
had been broken into 151 pieces. It was discovered
in the house of L. Aurelius Avianius Symmachus on
the Caelian.i

My experience in the excavations at Rome has sug-
gested the following observation in regard to the con-
dition of marble statues when discovered : Those found
in loose earth, among the ruins of the edifices to which
they belonged, generally lack head and arms ; but those
that have been used as building material in foundation
walls can often be reconstructed in their entirety, head
and arms being not far away.

These facts show that before the burial of Ancient
Rome, many of the statues had been injured by knock-
ing off their most prominent and easily broken parts.
The loss of head and arms may in some cases have
resulted from the overthrowing of the statue, the body
remaining where it fell, the head rolling off to one side.
Most of the loose heads are rounded and smooth as if
street-idlers had used them to play the popular game"
of bocce.^ Some of them have a hook or ring on the
crown, and must have been used as weights for large

^ Buins and Excavations, p. 347.

2 This is a purely Italian game played with six larger balls and one
smaller one, which is used as a mark. Each of the two players rolls three
balls, and those that stop nearest the mark gain a point. The temptation
to use loose heads of statues when wooden balls were not available must
have been strong.

46 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

scales. The five or six liundred heads discovered in
my time were all, except a dozen or two, without noses.
The fact that heads and arms of statues used as build-
ing materials are rarely missing, shows that the break-
ing up of statuary became common at a comparatively
early period of the Roman decadence, when the works
of art ornamenting palaces and gardens had as yet
suffered but little injury.

I

CHAPTER IV

THE ASPECT OF THE CITY AT THE BEGINNING OF
THE FIFTH CENTURY

Although Rome had not recovered, and could not
recover, from the removal of the imperial court to
Byzantium, accomplished in 330, yet at the beginning
of the fifth century the great buildings still remained
substantially intact, and a few additions were made
to the list of existing monuments. The architectural
impressiveness of the City may be measured by the
effect that it produced upon the mind of Constantius
II., who visited it in 357, twenty-seven years after
the Palatine had ceased to be the seat of imperial
government. A graphic account of the visit is given
by Ammianus Marcellinus in the tenth chapter of Book
XVI., from which I quote but one passage referring to
the Forum of Trajan : —

" Having now entered the Forum Trajanum, the most
marvellous creation of human genius, he was struck
with wonder, and looked around in amazement at the
great structures, which no pen can describe, and which
mankind can create and behold but once in the course
of centuries. . . . Then he turned his attention to

47

48 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

the equestrian statue in the centre of the Forum, and
said to his attendants he would have one like it in
Constantinople : to which Hormisdas, a young Persian
prince attached to the court, replied, 'You must first
provide your horse with a stable like this.' "

Constantius was indeed overwhelmed by the great-
ness of Rome. The other edifices mentioned as having
especially astonished him are the temple of Jupiter on
the Capitoline, the Baths, the Flavian Amphitheatre,
the Pantheon, the temple of Venus and Rome, the
theatre of Pompey, the Odeum, and the Stadium.

There is also a monumental record of this imperial
visit : the highest obelisk of the world, erected by
Thothmes III. before the great temple at Thebes, re-
moved by Constantius to Rome, and set up in the Cir-
cus Maximus. It now stands in the piazza of the
Lateran. Constantius is said to have taken away the
superb statue of Victory, presented by Augustus, from
the Senate-house ; but it must have been saved from
injury, for Julian the Apostate (361-363) was able to
place it again on its pedestal.

It is difficult for us to form a conception of the
magnificence of Rome, even in its decline. According
to ths regionary catalogue compiled in the time of Con-
stantine,! the City then " contained 2 circuses, 2 amphi-

1 There are two editions of this catalogue. The first, known by the
name of Notitia Begioimm Urbis Homae, dates from a.d. 334 ; the sec-
ond, called Curiosum urbis Bomae regiomim XIV., must have been

BEGINNING OF THE FIFTH CENTURY 49

theatres, 3 theatres, 10 basilicas, 11 thermae, 36 arches
of marble, 2 commemorative columns, 6 obelisks (im-
ported from Egypt), 423 temples, 1790 domus — that is,
extensive private residences, or palaces, of the wealthy
— besides which there were reckoned 46,602 tenements
(insulae). The open places were adorned with 2 colossi
(probably those of Nero and Augustus), 22 'great
horses ' — presumably counting not merely the large
equestrian statues, as that of Marcus Aurelius, now in
the square of the Capitol, but also groups of which
horses formed a part, as those of the Dioscuri on the
Capitoline and of the Horse-tamers on the Quirinal ; to
which are added 80 gilded and 77 ivory statues of the
gods, no mention being made of the countless lesser
statues on every side." In the number of obelisks, at
any rate, the catalogue falls far short of the truth ; and
statistics such as these, impressive though they may be,
are after all of no real assistance in trying to form an
idea of the aspect of the City unless we are able to
reconstruct, in imagination, the buildings and works of
art so concisely summarised.

The year 403 is memorable for the celebration of a
triumph, the last ever seen in Ancient Rome. A cen-
tury had elapsed since the Romans had beheld such a

issued in or after 357, because it mentions the obelisk raised in that year
in the Circus Maximus. For a bibliography on these two invaluable
documents see Buins and Excavations, p. vii.

B

50 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

sight — Diocletian's triumph in 303 ; nay, in that space
of time they had only thrice seen the face of an em-
peroi-. The pretext for this pageant was the subjuga-
tion of the Numidian rebel, Count Gildo. This event
is commemorated by several existing monuments. One
is a pedestal of an equestrian group, discovered in the
Forum near the arch of Septimius Severus between
1549 and 1565 ; it bears an inscription, from which we
learn that it was erected by the Senate and the Roman
people as a testimonial of their rejoicing at the crush-
ing of the rebellion and the recovery of Africa. In
the same place was found the pedestal of a statue
erected in honour of Stilicho, the inscription of which
distinctly attributes to him the reconquest of Africa,
directly in the face of the historical evidence.^
A third inscription, commemorating the repairing of
the Claudian and Marcian aqueducts, in the plain of
Arsoli, with the money confiscated from the rebels,
is preserved in the palace of Prince Massimi at
Arsoli.

Another historic monument relating to the Gothic
wars stands on the edge of the Forum opposite the
Senate-house. The inscription praises the gallantry of
the army of Arcadius, Honorius, and Theodosius in de-
feating Rhadagaisus at the battle of Florence in 405 ;
the victory being attributed to Stilicho, — post con-

1 See Huelsen, " 7Z monumento della guerra Gildonica sul Foro lio-
mano,'' in Mittheil., 1895, p. 52 ; C. I. L. VI. 1187, 1730.

BEGINNING OP THE FIFTH CENTURY

51

fectum G-othicuni' bellum . . . eonsiliis et fortitudine . . .
Flavii Stilichonis . ^

Fig. 12. — The monument of Stilicho in the Forum.

This memorial, shown in our illustration (Fig. 12),
set up "by decree of the Senate and the Roman people,

^ Notizie degli Scavi, 1880, p. 53.

52 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

under the care of Pisidius Romulus, prefect of the
City," is the meanest and poorest in the whole Forum.
It presents indisputable evidence of the decline of
pride, taste, and resources at the beginning of the fifth
century. It is made of two blocks, one of travertine,
which forms the base, and one of marble above. The
marble block had previously been used as a pedestal
for an equestrian statue of bronze ; the statue was
knocked off, the pedestal set up awkwardly on one
end, the cracks in it being brought together with iron
clamps ; then the old inscription was carefully obliter-
ated, and the new one cut over it. In the same year,
405, a triumphal arch was raised to the three Em-
perors— with spoils of other edifices — "because they
had swept from the face of the earth the nation of the
Goths." Four years later, the very barbarians whom
they boasted to have annihilated, stormed and sacked
the Gitj.

The arch just mentioned stood by the church of
S. Orso, near S. Giovanni de' Fiorentini. Just as in
classical times, such honorary monuments were raised
on the Sacra Via, leading to the great temple of
Jupiter Optimus Maximus, so now, in the Christian
era, they were built over the roads converging towards
St. Peter's, and especially at the foot of the bridges
which the pilgrims had to cross on their way to the
Apostle's tomb. The arch of Gratianus, Valentinianus,
and Theodosius, erected in the year 382, stood in the

BEGINNING OF THE FIFTH CENTURY 53

Piazza di Ponte S. Angelo, that of Arcadius, Honorius,
and Theodosius (405 a.d.) at the approach to the Pons
Vaticanus, that of Valentinian and Valens (366-367)
by the Ponte Sisto.

The Emperors Arcadius and Honorius, fearing an
advance of the Goths under Alaric, undertook the gen-
eral restoration of the City walls under the direction
of Stilicho. The work was finished in January, 402,
and celebrated by several inscriptions, three of which,
cut on the Porta Tiburtina, Porta Praenestina, and
Porta Portuensis, have come down to us.^ They speak
not only of " the restoration of the walls, gates, and
towers of the Eternal City," but also of "the removal
of large masses of rubbish." This allusion to the dispo-
sition of rubbish is of great importance for our subject,
because it gives us the date and the cause of the first
great rise in the level of the City, at least of the outly-
ing districts. After the removal of the imperial court to
Byzantium, the municipal regulations requiring the re-
moval of the City refuse to a safe distance apparently
fell into abeyance ; and all sorts of material seem to
have been heaped up against the walls. Stilicho had
neither time nor means to cart away the bank of debris,
which certainly diminished his chances of a success-
ful defence ; so he contented himself with levelling it
off and spreading it over the adjoining land. In
402, therefore, the level of imperial Rome on the

1 C. I. L. VI. 1188-1190.

64

DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

line of the walls was raised at once by ten or twelve
feet.

The best evidence of this fact is to be found at the
Porta Ostiensis, now Porta di S. Paolo, close to the pyra-
mid of Cestius (Fig. 13). The threshold of the gate
of 402 is about twelve feet higher than the base of the
pyramid and the threshold of the gate of 272. Again,
the arch of Augustus on the Via Tiburtina, which

Fig. 13. — The raising of level at the Porta Ostiensis, a.d. 402. The Pyramid
of Cestius is shown at the left.

formed the Tiburtine gate of 272, is ten or twelve feet
lower than the gate of 402.^ The same observation
applies to the Porta Flaminia, Porta Praenestina, Porta
Portuensis, and Porta Septimiana. The Porta Appia
seems to have been rebuilt with materials taken from
the beautiful temple of Mars outside the walls, without
any change of level. In only one part of the walls
have I found traces of a loAvering of the soil below the

1 See the illustration in Bttins and Excavations, p. 76.

BEGINNING OF THE FIFTH CENTURY 55

level of the classical period. This single exception is
at the northeast corner of the Praetorian camp.

The gates of Honorius have been ruthlessly treated
in modern times. Sixtus IV. dismantled the Porta
Flaminia in 1-178 ; Alexander VI. destroyed the Porta
Septimiana in 1198 ; Pius IV., the Nomentana in 1561 ;
Urban VIII., the Portuensis and the Aurelia in 1612 ;
Gregory XVI., the Praenestina in 1838. In 1869
Pius IX. dismantled the Porta Tiburtina, in order to
make use of the stones of which it was built in the
foundations of the " Colonna del Concilio " at the church
of S. Pietro in Montorio. The Porta Salaria, damaged
in the bombardment of September 20, 1870, was rebuilt
in its present form in 1872.

CHAPTER V

THE SACK OF THE GOTHS IN 410, AND ITS
CONSEQUENCES

The repairing of the city walls by Arcadius and
Honorius was accomplished none too soon. The suc-
cess of Stilicho in checking the advance of the Goths
at the battle of Florence, in 405, was only temporary;
the barbarian host, two hundred thousand strong, had
overrun the plains of northern Italy, and would un-
doubtedly take advantage of a favourable opportunity
to attack Rome itself. Such an opportunity came with
the disgrace and death of Stilicho, who was banished
in 407 and murdered at Ravenna in 408 ; his name
was even erased from the monument erected in his
honour in the Forum, described in the previous chapter.
The Roman leader had hardly been put out of the way
before Rome saw, for the first time since the Gallic
invasion of 390 B.C., a host of barbarians surrounding
the walls. This time Alaric was induced to lead his
army away by the payment of an exorbitant ransom,
one of the items of which was five thousand pounds
of gold. In order to meet this demand, the Romans

56

THE SACK OF THE GOTHS IN 410 57

were compelled to strip the bronze statues of their
heavy gilding.^

Two years later, in 410, Alaric and his hordes
entered the City, on the twenty-fourth day of August,
in the dead of night by the Porta Salaria, and set fire
to the houses near the gate, among which was the
imperial mansion in the gardens of Sallust. The lives
of the citizens were spared, but the City was aban-
doned to plunder, except as regards the two sacred
enclosures of St. Peter and St. Paul. At the end of
the third day the barbarians withdrew, carrying off an
incredible amount of articles of value, among which —
if we are to believe Procopius — were the spoils of the
temple at Jerusalem which Titus had placed in the
temple of Peace ; but the testimony of Procopius on
this point may well be doubted.

In these days of terror the Aventine with its 130
palaces, the most aristocratic quarter of the city, suf-
fered more than all the other regions. I have wit-
nessed excavations made in the Vigna Torlonia, among
the remains of the Thermae Decianae and of the house
of Trajan ; in the Vigna Maciocchi, among the ruins of
the palace of Annia Cornificia Faustina, younger sister
of Marcus Aurelius and wife of Ummidius Quadratus ;
in the garden of S. Anselmo, where the palace of the

1 Zosimus, V. 45, speaks of the actual melting of gold and silver
statues, and also of the gold aud silver ornaments of bronze or mar-
ble statues.

58 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT EOME

Pactumeii was discovered in 1892 ; and in the garden
of S. Sabina, once occupied by the houses of Cosmus,
Minister of Finance under Marcus Aurelius, and of
Marcella and Principia, the friends of St. Jerome. In
watching these excavations, I was struck by the fact
that these beautiful palaces must have perished towards
the beginning of the fifth century of our era, and all
from the same cause. The signs of destruction are
everywhere the same: traces of flames which black-
ened the red ground of the frescoes, and caused the
roofs to fall on the mosaic or marble pavements of
the ground floor ; coins scattered among the ruins,
belonging, with rare exceptions, to the fourth century ;
statues that had been restored over and over again;
marbles stolen from pagan buildings, mostly from sepul-
chral monuments, and utilised for hurried restorations ;
and Christian symbols on lamps and domestic utensils.
These indications fix the period and point to the same
historical event, — the capture and pillage of Rome by
the Goths in August, 410. The Aventine paid dearly
for the partiality shown for it by the noble and the
wealthy. The treasures accumulated in its palaces
roused the cupidity of the invaders, and led them to
excesses of plunder and destruction such as were spared
to more humble districts of the City.

Although the imperial casino in the gardens of Sal-
lust is the only structure distinctly mentioned by histo-
rians as having been consumed by fire, we are constantly

THE SACK OF THE GOTHS IN 410 69

discovering evidences of a far more widespread loss from
this cause ; and even among the written records of those
eventful days some new particulars come to light, from
time to time, as in the following instance : —

On the Caelian Hill, between S. Stefano Rotondo and
the Lateran, there was a palace belonging to the de-
scendants of the Valerii Poplicolae, namely, to Valerii^s
Severus, prefect of Rome iu the year 386, and to his
son Pinianus, husband of Melania the younger. The
palace was so beautiful and contained so much wealth,
that when Pinianus and Melania, crushed with grief
on account of the loss of all their children, put it up
for sale in 404, they found none willing to purchase
it — ad tarn magnum et mirahile opus accedere nemo ausus
fuit. However, seven or eight years later the same
palace was sold for little or nothing — domus pro nihilo
venumdata est. The reason for such a change has lately
been discovered in a manuscript of the library of Char-
tres. The barbarians had plundered the palace of all
its valuables, and wrecked it by fire.^

Additional evidence regarding the fate of the palaces
on the Aventine is furnished by St. Jerome, in Epistles
54 and 127. One of these palaces, as we have seen,
belonged to Marcella, the founder of monastic life in
Rome. This noble matron was left a widow after
seven months of marriage, and being pressed by the
Consul Cerealis to marry again, determined to sever
^ Compare, however, Buins and Excavations, p. 345.

60 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

all connection with the world for the rest of her life.
Following the rule of St. Athanasius, Bishop of Alex-
andria, she dressed herself in simple garb, gave up the
use of wine g,nd meat, and divided her time between
the study of the Scriptures, prayers, and pilgrimages
to the tombs of apostles and martyrs. St. Jerome be-
came Marcella's spiritual adviser ; such was the serenity
and beauty of her character, that in one of his letters
she is addressed as "the pride of Roman matrons."
However, when Rome became the prey of the Goths,
the barbarians broke into her peaceful retreat and tor-
tured her in an attempt to discover the secret hiding-
place of her treasures, treasures that she had long
before given up to the needy. Fearing more for the
safety of Principia, whom she had adopted as a spirit-
ual daughter, than for her own life, she threw herself
at the feet of the Gothic chieftain and begged to be
conducted to the church of St. Paul outside the walls,
which, like St. Peter's, had been set apart b}'^ Alaric
as a refuge for women and children. The destruction
of her Aventine home and the shock of the torture
and pillage brought Marcella's life to a close ; she died
before the end of that eventful August.

The barbarians attacked with equal fury the public
buildings of the Aventine, especially the thermae.
One of these establishments, called Thermae Decianae
from the family of the Caecinae Decii, who had built
it in the neighbourhood of their palace, was under-

THE SACK OF THE GOTHS IN 410 61

mined by the Goths so that the main wall of the tepi-
darium leaned forward, dragging into its own ruin all
the neighbouring halls. The damages, as well as the
repairs made in haste by Caecina Decius Albinus in
the year 414, are described in an inscription discovered
on the spot in 1725, and now preserved in the Capi-
toline Museum. 1 The temple of Juno Regina, first
erected by Camillus after the capture of Veii, and re-
built in imperial times with great magnificence, seems
to have been seriously injured, if not destroyed, on this
occasion. Its marbles were made use of by Peter, an
Illyrian priest, who built the church of S. Sabina in 425.

Such being the fate of the Aventine, with its luxuri-
ous homes and countless treasures, it need not surprise
us if the Genius of the place (as the ancients would
say) has now and then vouchsafed to us modern
searchers after antiquities a truly remarkable find.
Such a find was that made in the pontificate of Pius
IV. by Matteo da Castello, the Pope's architect, who,
while planting a vineyard near the church of S.
Prisca, came across two or three receptacles of lead,
containing eighteen hundred pieces of gold, with the
image of the Empress Helena on one side, and the sym-
bol of the cross on the other. He duly notified the
Pope of his discovery, and received the whole treasure
as a present. The gold was valued at about three

1 C. I. L. VI. 1703.

62 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

thousand dollars. Flaminio Galgano, a contemporary of
Matteo da Castello, was equally fortunate. While
quarrying stone at the foot of the hill near S. Prisca,
he discovered in the heart of the rock a square room,
with the pavement inlaid with pieces of agate and
cornelian, and the walls covered with panels of gilt
copper, in the cornice of which rare medals were set as
a motive of decoration. The room contained many
paterae and instruments of sacrifice, all damaged by fire.
Pietro Sante Bartoli, in his Memoirs (n. 128), gives
the following account of another find, probably asso-
ciated with the same barbarian invasion : " When Urban
VIII. built the Bastione del Priorato di Malta, in front
of the church of S. Maria Aventina, many curious
things were discovered. Among them was a hiding-
place, formed by two walls, inside of which was con-
cealed a silver table service, worked in repousse. The
place of concealment was covered and screened from
view by a piece of a marble cornice, since removed to
the Villa Pamfili. Another treasure of gold coins,
rings, and other precious objects was found inside an
earthen jar; the police, acting under the orders of Car-
dinal Antonio Barberini, sought far and wide for the
finder, but they could never lay hands on him. A few
days after, another workman from Aquila discovered a
leaden box, and, although his pay for several weeks of
labour was still to his credit, he thought it better to
abscond with the box than to wait for his money."

THE SACK OF THE GOTHS IN 410 63

Perhaps the most remarkable set of silverware ever
buried in Rome for fear of barbarian plundering is the
one discovered between June, 1793, and March of the
following year, under the convent of the Paolotte, on
the Via di S. Lucia in Selce, the ancient Clivus Su-
buranus. The collection, which belonged to the toilet-
service of a lady of rank, weighed 1029 ounces, and
comprised a pyxis inscribed with the names of Turcius
Asterius Secundus and of his wife Projecta, two can-
dlesticks in the shape of brackets, five plates and four
soup-plates, with the name "Projecta Turci," in gold-
niello, five goblets in the shape of ewers, a wash-
basin in the shape of a shell, and lamps, forks, and
spoons, together with remains of a sedan chair and
sundry other articles, the catalogue of which is given
by Ennio Quirino Visconti.^ Pius VI. allowed the
treasure to be disposed of by sale. A few pieces were
bought by Carlo Gherardi, and resold to Baron von
Kevenhuller ; all the rest were purchased by Baron
von Schellersheim. The finest objects are now exhib-
ited in the British Museum, thanks to the generosity
of the late Sir Augustus Franks. The silver set was
evidently hidden in great haste. Visconti affirms that
he saw a piece of a linen towel inside the shell-shaped
basin, "a proof," he says, "of the hurry with which
the treasure was buried." The concealment must have

^ Lettera di Ennio Quirino Visconti intorno ad una antica supellettile
d''argento, etc. 2d ed. Rome, 1827, xxv. plates.

64 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

taken place after 362 a.d., when Turcius Asterius
Secundus was prefect of the City, and in fact after
his death, because some of the pieces bear the name of
a Peregrina, who seems to have been his daughter.
We are not far, therefore, from the date of the sack
of 410. The question naturally suggests itself : Why
this collection of valuables, and many others concealed
at the same time and for the same cause, were not
dug out and recovered after the retreat of the bar-
barians? The inquiry is more easily raised than
answered. Perhaps the one or two persons who
knew the secret lost their lives in the sack of 410 ;
possibly the palace of the Asterii was burnt to the
ground, and all access to the hiding-place cut off.

The barbarian invasions had one result which, from
the archaeological point of view, is of even greater sig-
nificance than the burying of treasure : I refer to the
careful hiding of bronze statues in times of panic in
order to save them from injury or destruction, thus
making possible their rediscovery in modern times in
a perfect state of preservation. Of course, in many
instances, we are not able to determine whether the
concealment took place in 410 rather than in 455 or
537, or some other year. What we do know is, that
bronzes were hidden through fear of an imminent ca-
lamity; and the presumption is in favour of the earlier
date because the number of bronze statues in existence
must have been vastly diminished after the first sack-
ing of the City.

\

THE SACK OF THE GOTHS IN 410 65

It has been suggested that fear of the Christians, on
account of the acts of violence occasionally committed
by the populace against the temples and their contents,
may have been the cause that led to the concealment
of images, particularly of the gods ; but deeds of vio-
lence against pagan sanctuaries — not uncommon in the
East, as in the case of the destruction of the magnifi-
cent Serapeum at Alexandria in 391 — were extremely
rare in Rome. The rough painting in one of the cata-
combs of the Via Salaria Vetus which represents the
overthrowing of a statue^ is unique in its way; and
though St. Augustine 2 speaks of "the overthrowing of
all the images in the City of Rome," his words, obviously
metaphorical, are contradicted by Claudianus,^ who, writ-
ing in the year 403, mentions vast multitudes of bronze
and marble statues, lining the streets and the forums.*

Statues were sometimes concealed by the magistrates
themselves. Two inscriptions, one of which was dis-
covered at Benevento, the other at Capua, describe the
reerection of works of statuary, reperta in abditis locis,
or translata ex abditis locis. I have described elsewhere ^

1 De Rossi, Bull, di arch, crist., 1865, pp. 3, 4.

2 Augustine, Sermo ev de verbis evang. Luc. X. 13.

* De vL consulatu Honorii, 42.

* Fuller information on this subject will be found in Edmund Le
Slant's paper, " De quelques statues cach^es par les anciens," published
in Compte-rendus de VAcad. des Inscriptions, 1890, p. 541 ; and in
Grisar's Ipapi del Medio Evo, ital. edit, of 1897, Vol. I. p. 38.

* Buins and Excavations, p. 456.

F

66 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

the discovery of the bronze Hercules Invictus which
had been hidden by the charioteers of the Circus Maxi-
mus, and of the Hercules Magnus Gustos concealed by
those of the Circus Flaminius ; the first came to light
in the time of Sixtus IV. (1471-1484), the second in
1864. This last had been carefully buried in a kind
of coffin made of slabs of portasanta. The bronze
gladiator, likewise, discovered in March, 1885, in the
foundations of the Teatro Drammatico on the Via
Nazionale, had not been buried in haste in that heap
of rubbish, but had been treated with the utmost care.
The figure, which was in a sitting posture, had been
poised on a stone capital, as upon a stool, and the
trench, which had been dug under the platform of the
temple of the Sun to conceal the statue, had been
filled with finely sifted earth, in order to save the
bronze from any possible injury.

As a rule, the bronzes discovered in Rome since
the Renaissance — I speak of this later period because
our knowledge of earlier finds is too imperfect and frag-
mentary to be of value — had been carefully hidden,
or even thrown into the Tiber, in times of panic. The
secret of the place of hiding was lost, either on account
of the death of those who knew the spot, or because
the great masses of debris had made it impossible to
reach it again.

Many of these places of concealment have been found
in our days ; three of them deserve special mention.

Fig. 14. — Bronze heads found in 1880 under the English church, Via del

Bahuino.
1. Augustus. 2. Nero.

3, 4. Portrait head of the first century — name unknown.

THE SACK OF THE GOTHS IN 410 69

The first is the treasure-trove unearthed in 1849, a few
weeks before the storming of Rome by the French
army under General Oudinot, beneath the house at No.
17, Vicolo delle Pahne, now Vicolo dell' Atleta. It con-
sisted of a marble copy of the bronze Apoxyomenos of
Lysippus ; of the bronze horse, now in the Palazzo dei
Conservatori, described b}' Emil Braun as "an unique
work, a masterpiece, and a genuine Grecian antique " ;
of a bronze foot with a particularly ornamental caliga,
which may possibly have belonged to the rider of the
horse ; of a bronze bull, and many other fragments of
less importance.

The second discovery was made September 15, 1880,
at the corner of the Via del Babuino and Via del
Gesu e Maria where the English Church of All Saints
was in process of erection. ^ The bronzes lay nineteen
feet below the threshold of the main door. There
was a head of more than life size, which was thought
to represent Augustus, and to have some connexion
with the mausoleum of that Emperor ; a head of Nero
with the eyes perforated, and several busts of un-
known personages of the first century.

The third discovery took place about the same
time at the corner of the Via Nazionale and Via di
S. Eufemia, while the Marchesa Capranica del Grillo
(Madame Ristori) was laying the foundations of her
city house. The treasure consisted of marbles and
1 Bull Com., 1881, p. 30, pi. i.

70 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

bronzes. The latter rank among the best specimens
of Greco-Roman art, if indeed they are not purely-
Greek. There was a sitting statue of Cybele, holding
a diminutive millstone in the left hand ; the mouth
of a fountain in the shape of a lion's head, and the
head of a youth, the most superb piece of bronze work I
have ever seen. These bronzes all soon disappeared, and
I have never been able to find out what became of them.

Another consequence of the Gothic invasion was the
abandonment of the Catacombs. Christian archaeolo-
gists have stated that burials in the Catacombs, very 1
rare between 400 and 410 on account of the insecurity
of the suburbs, were given up altogether after 410. i
The reason for this abandonment is easily seen. The '
storming of Alaric marks, thus, the end of a great and
glorious era in the history of " underground Rome " ; it
put an end altogether to the work of the fossores.

After suffering more damage in the invasion of 457,
the Catacombs were irreparably devastated in 537,
during the siege of the Goths under Vitiges. It is
distinctly stated by the biographer of Pope Silverius
(536-537) that "churches and tombs of martyrs were
destroyed by the Goths"; but it is not easy for us to
understand why the Goths, bigoted Christians as they
were and full of respect for the basilicas of St. Peter
and St. Paul, as Procopius declares, should have ran-
sacked the Catacombs and have violated the tombs of
martyrs, breaking up their commemorative inscriptions.

THE SACK OF THE GOTHS IN 410 71

Perhaps they could not read Latin or Greek epitaphs,
and so were unable to make a distinction between
pagan and Christian cemeteries ; perhaps they were
hunting for hidden treasures, or the relics of saints.

Whatever may have been the reason of their behav-
iour, it is certainly a significant fact that at least two
encampments of the Goths in 537 were just over the
Catacombs and around their entrances ; one on the Via
Salaria, over the Catacombs of Thrason, and the other
on the Via Labicana, over those of Peter and Marcel-
linus. The barbarians, naturally, could hardly resist
the temptation to explore those subterranean wonders ;
indeed, they were obliged to do so by the most ele-
mentary rules of precaution. In each of the two cata-
combs mentioned, a memorial tablet has been found
commemorating the repairs made in haste by Pope
Vigilius between March, 537, the date of the retreat
of Vitiges, and the following November, the date of
the journey of Vigilius to Constantinople. ^ Traces of
this Pope's restorations have been found also in other
catacombs, especially in those of Callixtus and Hip-
polytus. His example was followed by private indi-
viduals. The tomb of Crysanthus and Daria, in the
Via Salaria, was repaired after the retreat of the bar-
barians pauperis ex censu, with the modest means of
one of the humbler followers of the Master.

Notwithstanding the feeling of insecurity caused by

* Cf. Pagan and Christian Borne, p. 324.

72 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

the sack of 410, the body of the Emperor Honorius,
who died at Ravenna, August 15, 423, was not interred
in that city, but was transported to Rome and given
burial in the imperial mausoleum which had been
raised on the south side of St. Peter's Church, in
wretched imitation of the great structures of Augustus
and Hadrian. This tomb of the decadence was com-
posed of two round halls, joined by a covered passage.
Each rotunda contained six or seven recesses, in which
the imperial sarcophagi were placed. Mention of the
structure with its genuine denomination of mosileos
(mausoleum) occurs in the life of Stephen II. (752
A.D.), who placed in the western chambers the remains
of Petronilla, the supposed daughter of St. Peter,
whence it derived its mediaeval name of S. Petronilla ;
the other rotunda was known as the chapel of St.
Andrew, and also of "Our Lady of the Fever." The
first building was destroyed in the first quarter of the
sixteenth century, to make room for the south transept of
the new basilica, where the chapel of Saints Simon and
Judas now stands ; the other met with a similar fate
during the pontificate of Pius VI., and its place was
occupied by the new sacristy. The architecture of the
mosileos^ so similar to that of the tomb of St. Helena
(the Torre Pignattara) on the Via Labicana, gives us
the measure of the decline of Roman art and civilisa-
tion, when we compare it with the imposing mauso-
leums of Augustus and Hadrian.

THE SACK OF THE GOTHS IN 410 73

The robbery of the imperial graves which filled
the two rotundas by St. Peter's was accomplished at
various times and by various persons. It excels, in
refinement of barbarous and useless destruction, all the
other deeds of the unscrupulous age in which it
occurred. The first desecration dates from 1458 ; the
second took place in 1519 ; the last, in 1544. The
unique set of crown jewels of the fifth century was
sent to the mint, or sold or given away. With the ex-
ception of a bulla inscribed with the names of Hono-
rius and his empress Maria, daughter of Stilicho and
Serena, and sister of Thermantia and Eucherius, which
is now in the hands of Prince Trivulzio of Milan,
every other specimen has disappeared or lost its
identity.

CHAPTER VI

THE SACK OF ROME BY THE VANDALS IN 455

The exact date of the second capture of Rome, by
Genseric and the Vandals, is not known, but it was
probably the beginning of June, 455, three days after
the murder of Petronius Maximus, who had himself
caused the death of Valentinian III., and usurped the
throne. The Vandals, with whom were mixed Bedouins
and Moors, entered the City by the Porta Portuensis,
and plundered it at leisure for the space of fourteen
days. The booty was carted off methodically to the
ships moored alongside the quays, now called La Mar-
morata and Ripa grande. The palace of the Caesars,
which Valentinian III., unlike his predecessors, had con-
stantly occupied and had kept in repair, was stripped
even of its commonest furniture. The temple of Jupi-
ter Optimus Maximus, who from the lofty summit of
the Capitoline hill had presided over the destinies of
the Roman Commonwealth since the time of the Tar-
quins, was also put to ransom ; its statues and votive
offerings were carried off to adorn the African resi-
dence of Genseric, and half the roof was stripped of
its tiles of gilt bronze. It is also reported that the

74

THE SACK OF THE VANDALS IN 455 75

trophies of the Jewish war, represented in the bas-
reliefs of the arch of Titus and deposited by him in
the temple of Peace, fell into the hands of the barba-
rians. These spoils, as well as the massive gold plate
plundered from the Roman churches, were discovered at
Carthage,, eighty years later, by Belisarius, and carried
back in triumph, not to Rome, but to Constantinople.

We have a memorial of these eventful days in the
Basilica Eudoxiana, now the church of S. Pietro in Vin-
coli, which was built by Eudoxia the younger, widow
of Valentinian III., and a victim, first, of the usurper
Maximus, and then of Genseric. This beautiful church
is built with columns of Greek marble taken from one
of the neighbouring edifices, perhaps the Baths of
Titus or of Trajan, or the Porticus Tellurensis — a fact
which shows how little respect was paid by the mem-
bers of the imperial families to the laws concerning
the preservation of ancient buildings. The edict of
Maiorianus, issued at Ravenna in 458, forbidding once
more the dismantling of ancient structures for the erec-
tion of new ones, confirms our belief that the former
had come to be looked upon as stone quarries.

I cannot undertake here to speak with more detail
of the consequences of the sack of the Vandals, as re-
gards the fate of buildings and works of art, for the
reason that exact information is wanting. In most
cases we are not in a position to know whether cer-
tain results followed this invasion, or those of later

76 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

date. Nor does it fall within my province to recount
the history of the City for the half-century after the
storming of Genseric, — truly a harrowing narrative of
siege, famine, pillage, massacre, fires, and pestilence. In
general we may assume that the last half of the fifth
century was almost as disastrous a period for the history
of the Roman monuments as it was for the wretched
inhabitants.

CHAPTER VII
THE CITY m THE SIXTH CENTURY

At the opening of the sixth century the prevailing
gloom is penetrated, and thrown into even stronger
contrast, by a ray of light. A new era seemed to
dawn with the accession of Theoderic, whose enlight-
ened administration (500-526) gave itself no little
concern for the remains of Rome's greatness. On the
day of his arrival in Rome Theoderic addressed kind
words to the people from the rostra in front of the
Senate-house (in loco qui Palma aurea dioitur)^ and
then proceeded to the palace of the Caesars. The pro-
visions made by this Prince for the improvement of the
City are recorded in the Variae of his secretary, Cas-
siodorius. He appointed a body of engineers and archi-
tects to superintend the restoration of public edifices,
under the direction of an areJiitectus puhlicorum,, and
as we have already seen he revived the office of the
"keeper of statues." The theatre of Pompey was re-
paired with the help of one of the great men of the
age, Avianius Symmachus ; the Coliseum, with the help
of Decius Marius Venantius Basilius, prefect of the
City in the year 508. The duty of putting the aque-

77

78 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

ducts in order, and keeping the baths and the foun-
tains well supplied with water was entrusted to a comes
formarum urbis; the care of public sewers to a sani-
tary engineer named Johannes ; the charge of the har-
bour of Rome was given to a harbour-master (comes
partus urbis Romae'), assisted by a deputy (yicarius^-,
the theatres and other buildings designed for public
shows were placed under the superintendence of a
" supervisor of amusements " (tribunus voluptatum').
Thus thoroughgoing repairs were made, not at the
expense of other edifices, as in the case of the prede-
cessors of Theoderic, but with brick expressly prepared
in the great old brickyard called Portus Licini.
They were all stamped — in this case appropriately,
we must acknowledge — with the inscription —

REGNANTE D • N • THEODERICO FELIX ROMA

I have never made or witnessed an excavation on
the site of any of the great buildings of Rome without
discovering one or more of Theoderic's bricks. The
style of masonry which prevailed in his time can best
be examined in the repairs made to the " arcus Caeli-
montani," the branch aqueduct supplying the imperial
palace in the Via di S. Stefano Rotondo. The sums
destined for such works were derived from local taxa-
tion. Maximian of Ravenna states in his annals that the
two hundred pounds of gold set aside for the restoration
of the walls of the City and of the imperial residence

THE CITY IN THE SIXTH CENTURY 79

were collected from the city tax on wine — which at
this day remains one of the chief sources of revenue for
the municipal treasury. The churches of St. Pancras
on the Via Aurelia and of S. Martino ai Monti date
from the time of this benevolent ruler.

In describing the siege of Vitiges, which lasted from
February, 537, to March, 538, and the intrenched
camps raised by the Goths around the beleaguered City,
Procopius refers to the cutting of the aqueducts in
the following words {De Bello Goth. I. 19): "The
Goths having thus surrounded the City, broke down
the aqueducts to cut off the supply of water. Rome
has fourteen aqueducts . . . and their channels are so
high and broad that a horseman could easily ride
through them." This statement is erroneous in two
respects : the aqueducts were in reality not fourteen
but eleven, — Appia, Anio Vetus, Marcia, Tepula, Julia,
Virgo, Alsietina, Claudia, Anio Novus, Trajana, Alex-
andrinat and their channels " could not be entered even
by a pygmy riding on a goat or a ram.''^

Belisarius walled up the mouths of the aqueducts,
in order to prevent the enemy from making them a
means of entering the City. The consequences of the
cutting were not so serious as to cause a water famine,
because there were enough springs within the walls to
meet the emergency of the moment, not to speak of

1 Fabretti, De aquis, p. 145 : ne Pygmaei quidem, arietis, capraeve
dorso insidentis, quales eos describit Plinius, capaces fuerunt.

80 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

the Tiber, the water of which has always been consid-
ered potable and wholesome. It is also necessary to
observe that, after the removal of the imperial Court ;
to Constantinople, the water supply of Rome had lost
much of its world-famous purity and wholesomeness.
Any one can convince himself of the truth of this state- 1
ment by examining the channel of the Marcia, the purest
and best of Roman waters, at the Ponte degli Arci at j
the foot of Monte Arcese, near Tivoli, or that of the
Claudia, which in purity ranked next to the Marcia,^ I
near the Colle Monitola between Tivoli and Castel {
Madama. The following section of the channel, which
I made at Monte Arcese, May 5, 1881, will indicate the
real state of the case better than any description
(Fig. 15).

The channel {specus) measured originally six and
one-half feet (2.05 metres) in height, that is, to the
base of the vaulted ceiling, and three and one-third
feet (1.01 metres) in breadth. As long as the aque-
duct was well taken care of by the curatores aquarum
and their staff of subordinate ofificers, the dimensions
of the channel and its capacity did not perceptibly
diminish. There are, on the sides and the bottom, thin
layers of alabastrine purity and transparency, which may
have been formed in the golden age of Roman administra-
tion; but they hardly exceed half an inch in thickness.
The deposits, however, formed at the time of the bar- '

1 Frontinus, I. 13 : quae honitatis proximae est Mareiae,

THE City in the sixth century

81

barian invasions and in consequence of the abandonment
of the aqueducts, are fourteen inches thick, the free
channel being thus reduced from six and a half to a
little more than four feet
(1.65 metres) in height, and
to a width of less than a
foot. These deposits are of
every colour and quality, con-
taining carbonate of lime of
spongy texture, mud, clay,
and a conglomerate of gravel.
Another curious instance of
the neglect of the aqueducts
after the middle of the fourth
century is to be seen in the
Vigna di S. Croce in Gerusa-
lemme, as you enter by the
first gate on the left of that
church. The water dripping

, 1 1 • • J" ^ ^^^' ^^- — Section of the chan-

thrOUgh the joints ot the ^el of the Aqua Marcia, at Monte

Stones, of which the channel ^'•«^'^' showing deposits on the

bottom and sides.

is built, was so saturated with

deposits of lime that the whole height of the arcades
was covered with incrustations, and came to have the
appearance of a great rock honeycombed with cavities.
Although the inhabitants of Rome were not imme-
diately affected by a water famine, in other respects
the cutting off of the water supply by the barbarians

82 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

proved disastrous to the City as well as to the country
around it. In the City it led to the abandonment of
the great imperial thermae, which King Theoderic had
just tried to put into repair. The same fate was
shared by the artificial basins called stagna or euripi,
and by the 1212 public fountains and 247 reservoirs
which had adorned and supplied the City in earlier
days. The higher quarters suffered the most, because
their water supply, borne many miles on stone or brick
arcades, could be more easily stopped. Tlie supply of
the lower quarters, on the other hand, was never
diverted for any great length of time, because the
channels of the Virgo, of the Appia, and of the Anio
Vetus, which fed the Campus Martins, ran mostly
underground and could be repaired without difficulty.
This is the reason why the more salubrious hills were
abandoned toward the end of the fifth century, not to
be inhabited again until the time of Sixtus V., who
in 1587 made life upon them possible again with the
building of his Acquedotto Felice.

One incident of the Gothic siege of 537, connected
with the fate of the aqueducts, is described by Proco-
pius as follows : " Between the Latin and the Appian
Ways there still exist two aqueducts (the Claudian
and the Marcian), supported by massive arches. At
the fiftieth furlong from Rome (at the place now called
the Torre Fiscale), they join and cross each other in
such a way that the one which was on the right now

THE CITY IN THE SIXTH CENTURY 83

diverges to the left. After a short distance they
meet and cross again, and each follows its original
course. The space between the two crossings is there-
fore entirely surrounded by aqueducts, the lower arches
of which were filled up by the barbarians with stones and
mud, so as to form a regular fortification, within which
they remained encamped, to the number of at least seven
thousand, in order to prevent any kind of provisions from
entering the City. . . . With this as a base of opera-
tions, the Goths occupied themselves with despoiling and
ravaging the Campagna. . . . They remained there a long
time, and were only driven out by the plague." ^

De Rossi has collected important proofs of tlie accu-
racy of this portion of the narrative of Procopius.
Describing the sepulchral crypt, found by Fortunati
in 1876, at the fifth mile-stone of the Via Latina, on
Prince Torlonia's farm (Roma Vecchia), he says : " In
this very quarter of the suburbs I located the campus
harbaricus, where the Goths intrenched themselves in the
sixth century, and I suspected that the bodies, which
bore traces of having perished by a violent death, and
which were lying very near the surface quite close to
the Torlonia tomb, were those of this warlike horde. In
the Torlonia tomb itself we found, on the skull of one
of the skeletons, evident traces of an oblique cut, in-
flicted by a sword or some similar weapon."

"In 1853," De Rossi continues, "by the side of the

1 Be Bello Goth. II. 3.

84 DESTRUCTION OP ANCIENT ROME

modern road to Albano, between the fourth and the
fifth mile-stone, I was present at the discovery of
tombs, made with simple marble slabs, and of a sar-
cophagus. . . . The corpses had been enveloped in
rich cloth, of which, at the first moment of uncover-
ing, we saw traces in the form of gold and purple
threads. . . . Then not far off, just beneath the sur-
face, we saw a series of coffins made of stones and
tiles collected at random, filled with skeletons of men,
the loins and breasts bound with broad bands, which
looked as if they had been saturated with blood, and
these we thought to have been soldiers killed in ac-
tion. . . . This discovery recalled to my mind an
episode in the Gothic war (as described by Procopius)
which made fearful havoc among the neighbouring
villas. In the records of Gregory II. mention is made
of a ' Massa Camustis iuxta campum harharicum ex corpore
patrimonii Appiae.'' ''"'

It is easy to picture to ourselves what damage was
done to this once fertile and smiling part of the
Campagna, and to the aqueducts that traversed it,
especially to the Claudia, the most conspicuous of them
all. Yet it is but just to observe that the barbarians
damaged the aqueducts only so far as was necessary to
stop the flow of the water ; we have no reason to sup-
pose that they threw down great arches and pilasters
simply for the pleasure of destruction — that would
have been mere lost labour. These wonderful crea-

THE CITY IN THE SIXTH CENTURY 85

tions of Roman hydraulic skill, these triumphal arcades
crossing the Campagna in every direction and distrib-
uting everywhere fertility and health, were destroyed,
as were so many other monuments, by the Romans
themselves, in times much nearer to our own than is
ordinarily supposed.

We have reason to believe that in 1585, when the
construction of the Acquedotto Felice was decreed by
Sixtus v., the series of arcades of the Marcia and of
the Claudia (Fig. 20), both seven miles long, were prac-
tically intact. Matteo da Castello, first, and, after his
resignation, Domenico Fontana, laid hands on the noble
structures, burning their travertine blocks into lime,
splitting and hammering those of tufa and peperino for
use in the new aqueduct. Whatever remains were left
standing became the prey of local land-owners, especially
of the trustees of the hospital of S. Giovanni, in whose
archives I have found documents concerning the sale at
public auction of the stone arch, over which the Claudia
spanned the Via Latina near the farmhouse of Roma
Vecchia ; and again, the sale of four piers of peperino to
Bartolomeo Vitali, of two to the brothers Guidotti, and
so on.i Three or four hundred feet of the channel of
the same aqueduct were destroyed by the owner of the
farm of the Capannelle in 1887 ; the Mediterranean Rail-
way Company, which, about the same time, built the new
line to Segni, is responsible for other damages.

1 Lanciani, / Comentarii di Frontino, p. 149.

86

DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

A walk from the Porta Furba (on the road to Frascati)
to the Porta Maggiore, by the Vieolo del INIandrione,
will give the student a melancholy appreciation of the
importance and of the fate of the Roman aqueducts,

Fig. Ki. — The remains of the Claudian aquetUui :it ilu- I'ciii;

1 r iirli;t.

wliich, after so many centuries of spoliation, are still
among the most impressive remains of ancient Rome
(Fig. 16).

Notwithstanding the ravages of the Vandals and the
desperate straits of the people of Rome on many occa-

THE CITY IN THE SIXTH CENTURY 87

sions since the first sack of the Goths, Procopius, whom
I have already quoted so often, speaks of a number of
monuments as standing uninjured toward the middle
of the sixth century. We learn from him that the
City in general, and the Forum especially, retained an
imposing array of bronze and marble statues, the works
of Phidias and Lysippus ; that the celebrated Cow of
Myron was yet to be seen above the fountain in the
Forum of Peace ; that the bronze statue of Janus, five
cubits high, was still preserved in the cella of his four-
faced temple; and that the group of the Three Fates
— the one, probably, which Pliny classifies among the
earliest works of the kind in Rome — still gave the
name of Tria Fata to the north corner of the Forum
by the Senate-house.

The same historian describes how one of the Gothic
camps had been established in the Gaianum, a circus or
hippodrome of the gardens of Domitia, and how the
Greek garrison of the mole of Hadrian hurled upon its
assailants many statues which even to that time had orna-
mented this fortified mausoleum. " Of all the people in
the world," he concludes (IV. 22), " the Romans love
their City and its historical monuments the best.
Although fallen a prey to barbarian invaders so many
times, they have succeeded in keeping up many of their
great buildings, and preserving relics connected with the
origin and foundation of their City. Among these last
I can mention a large canoe hollowed out of the trunk

88 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

of a tree, which they preserve in the arsenal on the
left bank of the Tiber, as the one used by Aeneas in
reaching the Latin shore."

In the year 590, which was that of the election of
Pope Gregory the Great (September 3), Rome seems
to have reached the extremity of misfortune. An
inundation of the Tiber, at the end of the previous
year, had caused the ruin of some temples and monu-
ments and of innumerable private dwellings, and the
flood was, as usual, followed by famine and pestilence.
The beautiful legend of the angel seen above the
mausoleum of Hadrian in the act of sheathing his
sword, while Gregory at the head of the panic-stricken
population was proceeding in pilgrimage to St. Peter's
(a memorial of the vision still remains in the bronze
figure on the top of the Castel S. Angelo), marks
really the first change for the better in the fortunes
of Rome. By Rome I mean the City itself protected
by the walls of Aurelian and Honorius ; for the sur-
rounding district was incessantly devastated by the
Lombards of Agilulf and Ariulf, and its inhabitants
murdered or driven away.

CHAPTER VIII
- BURIAL PLACES WITHIN AXD WITHOUT THE WALLS

From a remote period, burial within the city limits
was prohibited by Roman law. Yet many graves have
been found within the walls, and Nibby has suggested
that the first infringement of the early enactment, the
first interments intra muros, must be regarded as a
consequence of the siege of Vitiges.

Earlier instances of the practice, however, are not
lacking. Tombs dating from the time of Theoderic
(493-526 A.D.) have been found in the Praetorian
camp, in the gardens of Sallust, and in the graveyard
of S. Giacomo del Colosseo. Those of the Praetorian
camp were seen by Lupi, in the first quarter of the
last century, within the cells Avhich line the north side
of the quadrangle ; those of the gardens of Sallust
were seen by De Rossi, in 1869, in that part of the
Vigna Barberini-Spithoever which is now crossed by
the Via Flavia and the Via Aureliana.

The exploration of the graveyard by the Coliseum be-
gan in the spring of 1895, and its results are described
at length in the Bullettino Comunale of the same year.
There were two or three layers of tombs, — the oldest,

90 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

at the same level with the amphitheatre, dating from
the time of Theoderic, the latest dating from the begin-
ning of the seventh century. One of the later tombs,
discovered opposite the thirty-third arcade, is now
exhibited in the Museo Municipale on the Caelian Hill.
The inscription gives the names of a Fortunatus and
Lucia and of their little daughter Gemmula, and ends
with the warning, " Whoever shall violate or injure
this tomb, may he share the fate of Judas ! " No
wonder : the grave stood right in the middle of a
thoroughfare, which, even in those days, must have
been crowded.

The two precious basins, one of green and one of
reddish basalt, removed toward the end of the last
century from the Baths of Caracalla to the Cortile
di Belvedere of the Vatican Museum, had both been
used for coffins. A sepulchral vault containing many
hundred bodies was discovered in the Baths of Con-
stantine ; ^ another, in the remains of other baths in
the Vigna Grimani (Barberini).^ In the course of
time each of the Roman churches — and there were
several hundred of them — came to possess a local
graveyard. We cannot excavate anywhere in Rome
without coming across one of them. I have seen, and
in several instances have myself explored, cemeteries
belonging to the church of S. Maria ad Martyres (the
Pantheon); of S. Marcello, of S. Nicola in Galcarario,

1 Vacca, Mem. 112. 2 Bartoli, 3Iem. 31.

BURIAL PLACES 91

of S. Maria in Campitelli, of S. Sebastiano in Pallara,
of S. Ciriaco de Camilliano, of S. Maria Nuova, and
others. The largest of all, attached to the hospital of
S. Maria delle Grazie, occupied one half of the Basilica
Julia, the layer of human remains being from six to
eight feet in thickness.

The Catacombs, as we have seen, were abandoned in
410 ; but what was the fate of the pagan tombs and
mausoleums which lined the highroads in every direction
beyond the limits of the City ? I wish that I could
summarise here the information given on this subject
by that indefatigable explorer of Iloman tombs, Fran-
cesco Ficoroni, in his work, La Bolla d'oro dei fanciulli
romani, Part II. ; ^ as it is I can only mention a few
points.

The family vaults, Ficoroni remarks, were generally
composed of a room or enclosed place on a level with
the road, where the funeral banquets and the anniver-
sary gatherings took place, and of a crypt where the
ashes were kept in urns, or the bodies laid to rest in
richly carved marble sarcophagi. The former, standing
above ground, and within easy reach of the passer-by,
must have been stripped of their valuable contents at
a very early period, perhaps even before the first inroad
of Alaric. When there was nothing else of value left,
the Romans attacked the very walls of which the
tombs were built, the porticoes, colonnades, and roofs,

^ Diversita dei mausolei romani, low diroccamento, etc.

92 DESTKUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

for the sake of the marble, which they wanted for their
lime-kilns. This process of burning the marbles of 11
sepulchral monuments for lime became so common that
the emperors had to enact capital punishment as a
penalty against the offenders. In 349, sixty-one y^ears
before Alaric's invasion, the Emperor Constans substi-
tuted a heavy fine for capital punishment.^

These imperial provisions may have saved from de-
struction for a few years longer the mausoleums more
exposed to view ; but those standing back from the
highroads, screened by trees or by the undulations of
the ground, probably disappeared faster than ever. I
speak, of course, of the general rule, because among
the three or four hundred thousand tombs which en-
circled the City, there were, to be sure, some remark-
able exceptions. A few of them, conspicuous for their
size and for their wealth in marble and travertine, have
survived to the present day, as the mausoleums of Cae-
cilia Metella and of Lucilius Paetus, and the tombs of
Vibius Marianus (Fig. 17) and of Vergilius Eurysaces.

The underground rooms, or hypogaea, suffered less
damage. Search was made, either by the degenerate
Romans or by the barbarians, for the valuable objects
buried with the corpse, or placed as a memento in
the cinerary urns, such as ear-rings, finger-rings, and
brooches (^fibulae) ; but the urns themselves, the beauti-

^ See his constitution to Limenius in the Codex Theodosianus, X. Tit.
17, de sepulchris violatis.

BURIAL PLACES

93

fill sarcophagi, the glass and terra cotta vessels peculiar
to columbaria, and even the bronze lamps and candela-
bras, were often left undisturbed. This is the reason
why the excavation of our ancient cemeteries is rich in
finds, as I can testify from personal observation.

Fig. 17

Tomb of P. Vibius Marianus, so-called "Tomb of Nero," on the
Via Clodia, 4i miles north of Rome.

My first experience in the exploration of tombs dates
from 1868, when those lining the Via Severiana, between
Ostia and Castel Fusano, were first opened by the elder
Visconti (Fig. 18). They yielded a great quantity of
glassware and exquisite Arezzo cups, besides a few ob-
jects in gold and enamel. Next in date and impor-
tance came the exploration of the columbaria of the

94 ■ DESTRirCTION OP ANCIENT ROME

Statilian family, in that portion of the Esquiline ceme-
tery which extends from the so-called Minerva Medica
to the Porta Maggiore (1875). In the space of a few
weeks, and within an area of a few thousand square
feet, we recovered 566 inscriptions, and many hundred

Fig. 18. — Columbarium on the Via Severiana, near Ostia, opened in 1868.

objects in terra cotta, glass, bone, ivory, bronze, gold,
silver, and precious marbles.

Ficoroni has offered an ingenious suggestion in re-
gard to the engraved gems or cameos which are found
loose in the earth in great numbers within a circuit
of three or four miles from the walls. After stating
that out of ninety-two sepulchral chambers, which he

BURIAL PLACES 95

had excavated in the Vigna Moroni by the Porta S.
Sebastiano, between 1705 and 1709, only one had not
been searched before, he says : " I found in the un-
opened urns, among the charred bones, a few neck-
laces, ear-rings, and finger-rings, and a piece of jewelry
with sapphires. My workmen, however, in sifting the
earth which filled up or covered these columbaria, and
also the open passages between them, found a great
many cameos and intaglios in precious stones, broken
or indented around the edge. These stones are con-
stantly found in the vineyards and orchards which ex-
tend over the old cemeteries ; and as they still show
traces of the hard glue, by means of which they were
fastened to their sockets, it seems to me that they
must have been taken out and thrown away as a use-
less encumbrance by those who were seeking for gold
alone. What possible value could engraved stones rep-
resent in the eyes of the Romans of the fifth century,
or of their invaders?"

This general rifling of burial crypts is the more sur-
prising if we recall the precautions taken in many
cases to conceal the entrances to them. After the
last occupant had been laid to rest, and the sarcophagi
or urns sealed with brass clamps and molten lead, the
door was walled up with stones or blocks of marble,
resembling in colour and shape those with which the
rest of the mausoleum was covered ; and every trace
of an entrance was then made to disappear. This is

96 DESTRUCTION OP ANCIENT ROME

the reason why some crypts, rich in funereal decora-
tion, have escaped molestation until a comparatively
recent period. The secret passage leading to the tomb
of Caecilia Metella was discovered by accident, in the
time of Paul III. (1534-1550), by a stone-cutter en-
gaged in wrenching away the blocks of travertine
from the square foundation. The beautiful sarcopha-
gus found in the inner chamber is still to be seen in
the palace of that Pope. A similar discovery, under
Alexander VII. (1655-1667), took place also in con--
nexion with the pyramid of C. Cestius, the entrance
to which was so artfully disguised that it could be
located only by the hollow sound of the stones with
which it had been blocked. The grave-robbers, how-
ever, have avoided the difficulty, in nine cases out of
ten, by boring a hole through the core of the monu-
ment toward its centre.

Most of the sepulchral chambers discovered in my
time had been plundered in this way. The best in-
stance can be seen in the beautiful crypt at the second
mile-stone of the Via Latina, called " Sepolcro degli
stucchi," from the well-preserved bas-reliefs in plaster,
representing nymphs and nereids driving sea-monsters,
which ornament its vaulted ceiling. The door leading
into this chamber was found to be undisturbed ; but a
hole could be seen in the ceiling, hardly two feet in
diameter, by means of which the plunderers had effected
their descent, and carried away the spoils (Fig. 19). The

BURIAL PLACES

97

marble sarcophagi had been carefully searched, some by
the removal of the lids, found lying in pieces on the floor,
some by means of a hole made in the side of the coffin.

|i

Fig. 19. — The Sepolcro degli Stucchi, showing the hole made by plunderers in
the vaulted ceiling.

98 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

I may close this chapter by reminding the reader
that from the time of Boniface VIII., who instituted
the Giubileo in 1300, to the end of the last century,
the highroads followed by the pilgrims on the way
to Rome were repaired every twenty-fifth year, at the
expense of the tombs lining the road on either side.
The information which I have collected on this point
will be published in Vols. III. and IV. of my Storia
degli Scavi di Roma.

11

CHAPTER IX

THE DEVASTATIOX AND DESERTION OF THE
CAMPAGNA

The final desolation of the Campagna, with its con-
comitant, the plague of malaria, dates from the time of
Gregory the Great (590-604). Villas and farmhouses
were set fire to, olive orchards and vineyards uprooted,
the supply of water cut off; all sources of life and
thrift were drained, and the whole plain from the
Apennines to the sea was turned into an unhealthful
and dangerous wilderness.

Whenever a Roman villa has been excavated in these
last years, I have paid special attention to the strati-
fication of its ruins, as the only means of finding out
what the cause of its destruction was. There are, as
a general rule, three strata. The uppermost consists
of vegetable soil, produced by the disintegration of the
ruins themselves, by the decomposition of the trees,
bushes, and grass, and by earth deposited by atmos-
pheric agencies. The middle stratum is made up of
building materials, such as brick, blocks of tufa, tufa
prisms for reticulate work, plaster, cement, and frag-
ments of marble veneering. The lowest, lying directly

101

102 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

over the marble or mosaic floor, is composed almost
exclusively of roof tiles and roofing materials. From
this relation of parts we infer that, whether the villas
perished by fire, or by natural decay and abandonment,
the first part to fall in was the roof, the remains of
which, for that reason, lie upon the pavements. The
walls must have fallen decades, if not centuries, later,
because there is always a thin layer of vegetable soil
between the remains of the roof and those of the walls.

The walls have generally fallen toward the same point
of the compass, as if thrown down by an earthquake ;
and a similar observation has been made in regard to
the columns of the peristyles. One thing is certain :
that when the roofs fell, whether by natural decay or.
by the violence of man, the marble statues which
adorned the villa, its terraces, its nymphaea, and its
colonnades were still in situ, and in some cases were
still standing on their pedestals. The herms at the
crossings of the garden avenues, the exquisite carved
fountains, the portrait-busts of the atria, remained
likewise uninjured, and so they would have remained
to the present day had it not been for the lime-burners
of the early Renaissance, and for the contractors for
the maintenance of the highroads, who in this respect
have caused incalculable damage ; more works of art
have been destroyed in the last five centuries than in
all the centuries of barbarian plundering.

For the same reason, the few villas which, on account

DESERTION OF THE CAMPAGNA 103

of their secluded location and safe distance from the
highroads, escaped the mediaeval and Renaissance plun-
derers, prove to be a perfect mine of statuary. I have
collected some remarkable documents on this point
which will be published later. Let me quote two in-
stances, one from the Villa Quintiliorum on the Appian
Way, the other from the Villa Voconiorum near Marino,
the ancient Castrimoenium.

The Villa Quintiliorum, the picturesque remains of
which are now called S. Maria Nova, from the church
and monastery of that name, which owned them in past
ages, has been excavated at least eight times, with
such good results that a section of the farm is actu-
ally called Statuario, " mine of statuary." The oldest
search dates from the pontificate of Innocent VIII.,
more precisely, from April 16, 1485. It led to the
discovery of the body of the so-called Tulliola, still re-
taining the rosy colour of the flesh and lifelike appear-
ance.^ Several inscriptions, sarcophagi, and sepulchral
monuments came to light on the same occasion. The
tomb of the Apusii was found in the following century.
Winckelmann, who was present at the excavations of
1762 made by Cardinal Alessandro Albani, describes the
finding of a beautiful marble basin, thirty-five palms in
circumference, with the Labours of Hercules in alto-re-
lievo ; of a portico, of the areostyle type, with columns
of the Ionic order, and of a wall covered with frescoes.

1 See Pagan and Christian Home, p. 295,

104 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

Here also, in 1780, Giovanni Volpato discovered several
columns of bigio and breccia corallina, thirteen feet
high; the colossal head of Julia Domna, the Ganymede,
and the "Antiochia," now in the Vatican Museum; be-
sides the statue of a young Caesar, which was bought
by Pacetti.

About the same year an Englishman and a Scotchman,
Thomas Jenkins and Gavin Hamilton, tried their luck in
the section of the same villa called Roma Vecchia. They
found a bust of Lucius Verus, another of Diocletian,
a third and a fourth of two Romans, perhaps Decem-
viri, with the names engraved on the plinth ; a life-
size statue of Euterpe, two statuettes of youths playing
with birds, and scenic masks ; two sarcophagi, and
several fragments of less importance. The best por-
tion of these marbles was purchased by Pius VI. for
the Vatican Museum, who at the same time ordered
fresh excavations to be made on his own account.
These excavations lasted from May 11, 1789, to May
15, 1792, and led to the discovery of the following
items : Eleven statuettes belonging to the ornamenta-
tion of one or more fountains ; eight life-size statues ;
nine heads and busts ; two double herms ; two sarcoph-
agi ; a mosaic pavement ; several columns, pedestals,
inscriptions, and other objects of interest. Carlo Tor-
Ionia purchased the grounds at the beginning of the
present century, and undertook other excavations about
1828-1829, the magnificent results of which are de-

I

DESERTION OF THE CAMPAGNA 105

scribed by Nibby^ and by Visconti in the catalogue of
the Museo Torlonia.

The last search, made by Giovanni Battista Guidi,
about 1855, was also attended with considerable suc-
cess. He found among other interesting things a cas-
tellum aquae, with its organ-like range of water-pipes,
inscribed with the names of the patricians who owned
property in the neighbourhood, and who drew their
supply of water from this reservoir of the Villa Quintil-
iorum. Having myself surveyed the site of the villa
on more than one occasion, I have persuaded myself
that the mine is by no means exhausted.

The Villa Voconiorum was excavated at my sugges-
tion by Signor Luigi Boccanera in 1883-1884. Its
beautiful remains have since been destroyed, much
against our laws, by a local owner, and its area put
under cultivation. The most interesting particular
gathered from these excavations is that when the stat-
ues fell, or were thrown from their pedestals, the floor
of the villa was already covered with over three feet
of debris. The statues therefore were still standing
after the first barbarian invasions. Once for all, then,
we may absolve the barbarians from the blame of a
useless destruction or mutilation of classic statuary. ^

1 Analisi, Vol. III. p. 726.

2 Gavin Hamilton excavated, in or about 1780, a round temple at the
eighth mile-stone of the Appian Way, with as many statues as there were
intercolumniations, each lying a few inches only from its original loca-
tion. See Riccy, Fago Lemonio, p. 122, n. 1,

CHAPTER X
THE MONUMENTS IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY

The early years of the seventh century were marked
by three events of special significance for the history
of the monuments. These are, the erection of the col-
umn of Phocas, the transformation of the Pantheon
into a church, and the inauguration of the practice of
transferring relics of martyrs from the Catacombs to
sanctuaries within the walls.

Phocas, the murderer of the Emperor Mauritius, had
seized the throne of the East in November, 602. The
portraits of this "base and cowardly assassin" and
of his wife Leontia were received in Rome with the
customary honours by the clergy and the Senate assem-
bled in the Basilica Julii at the Lateran, and after-
ward exhibited to the public in the church of S
Cesario in Palatio.^ The Romans went even a step
farther in their show of servility: they raised an hon-
orary column, inscribed, Phocae clementissimo principle
in the middle of the Forum, which still remained free
from the ruins that were later to bury and con-
ceal it. This is the last monument erected in that

1 The remains of this church are described in Buins and Excavations,
p. 169.

106

il

Fig. 21. — The column of Phocas in the Forum. At the right, further back,
the remains of the temple of Saturn.

THE MONUMENTS IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY 109

historical place. It marks the end of the ancient
period and the beginning of the Middle Ages. " Of
the three monumental columns still extant at Rome,"
Dyer well remarks, "two were erected to the best
emperors (Trajan and Marcus Aurelius), one to the
worst and basest ; their merits are aptly typified by
the style of their monuments."^

From the inscription on the pedestal of the column
of Phocas (discovered February 23, 1813) we learn
that the pillar was surmounted by a statue in gilt
bronze. Now such a statue could not have been mod-
elled and cast in Rome in 608 a.d. (the column was
dedicated on August 1 of that year). It must have
been an old statue, cast centuries before, of which, I
am inclined to believe, not even the head was changed
for the occasion. The column is forty-five feet high,
and leans considerably toward the southeast. The style
of the shaft and capital is certainly better than that pre-
vailing in 608 A.D. ; therefore, either the column was
removed bodily from a classic edifice, or else the Romans
and their exarch Zmaragdus dedicated to Phocas a monu-
ment which, up to his time, had borne another name.

It is interesting to note that the Forum of Trajan also
was at this time free from any accumulation of rubbish.
Venantius Fortunatus, a contemporary of Gregory, speaks
of the custom of poets reciting in that place as still
flourishing in his day (^Carm. III. 23).

^ History of the City of Borne, p. 363.

110 BESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

Boniface IV., elected bishop of Rome in the same
year in which the column of Phocas was dedicated,
obtained from that Emperor the permission to dedi-
cate the Pantheon of Agrippa to the Virgin Mary and
all Christian martyrs. This concession marks an ex-
ceedingly important moment in the history of the
destruction and transformation of ancient Rome, be-
cause, as I have previously remarked, up to the
beginning of the seventh century the Christians had
abstained from worshipping in places where divine
honours had been paid to pagan deities. No classic
temple, no shrine, — only civic buildings had thus
far been used for churches ; but about this time all
such scruples disappeared. To speak only of the edi-
fices lining the Sacra Via and the Forum, we now find
the Senate-house dedicated to St. Hadrian, the inner
hall of the Augusteum to S. Maria Antiqua, the tem-
ple of Antoninus and Faustina to St. Lawrence, that of
Janus to St. Dionysius, that of Saturn to the Saviour.
The Heroon of Romulus, son of Maxentius, becomes
the vestibule of the church of SS. Cosmas and Damia-
nus ; a chapel to St. Peter is raised in the vestibule
of the temple of Venus and Rome ; another to S. Mar-
tina in the Secretarium Senatus; a third to SS. Sergius
and Bacchus, near the steps of the temple of Concord ;
and a fourth to an unknown saint in the Basilica of
Constantine.i

1 Cf. Pagan and Christian Borne., p. 162.

THE MONUMENTS IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY 111

It would be interesting to know whether the Pan-
theon was submitted to any alteration in the process
of transformation into a church. Were the colossal
portrait statues of Augustus and Agrippa still stand-
ing, in the year 608, in their niches under the portico,
or those of the ancestral gods of the Julian gens in
their shrines under the dome? Were the great rosettes
of gilt bronze still fixed in the coffers of the dome
itself, and the bronze bas-reliefs still ornamenting the
pediment of the pronaos ? It is difficult to give a
satisfactory answer to these queries. I incline to the
view that when the Pantheon was placed under the
protection of the Queen of Martyrs, it was already
reduced to the present state, or rather to the state in
which it was before the spoliations of Constans II.
in 663, of Urban VIII. in 1625, and of Benedict XIV.
in 1747.^ In the lapse of time between the closing
of temples and the abandonment of the public baths,
and the reign of Phocas, the statues of the gods and
heroes must have been removed or thrown off from
their pedestals,^ and the rosettes of the dome probably

1 Constans II. stole the tiles of gilded bronze which covered the
roof of the pronaos and the dome ; Urban VIII. melted into cannon
410,778 pounds of metal from the trusses of the pronaos ; and Bene-
dict XIV. destroyed the marble veneering of the attic story,

2 For the fate of the three Caryatides by Diogenes the Athenian,
formerly in the Paganica and Giustiniani palaces, supposed to have
formed a part of the decoration of the attic, see Notizie degli scavi,
1881, pp. 265-267 ; Emil Braun, Bull. Inst., 1853, p. 36.

112 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

had fallen, one by one, through the disintegration of
the masonry of the coffers. The bas-reliefs of the
pediment had perhaps escaped spoliation. It seems
that when the Piazza della Rotonda was first exca-
vated and paved by Pope Eugenius IV. (1431-1439),
a head, possibly of Agrippa, the leg of a horse, and
the wheel of a chariot, all cast in bronze, were found
at the foot of the steps. These fragments may have
fallen from the pediment. No mention is made of
marble statues, except of a head attributed to Cybele,
which Camillo Fanucci claims to have seen lying on
the floor near the high altar in the year 1600. i

Another clew as to the state of the Pantheon, when
taken possession of by the Church, is given by the
clumsy restorations made by Boniface IV. (610 A.D.),
by Vitalianus (663), and Gregory III. (735), with
materials taken from other edifices, such as the marble
slab containing the honorary inscription of Lucius
Albinus, removed from the Forum of Augustus
(C /. L. I. 285), the beautiful frieze from the
temple of Isis (illustrated by Visconti in Bull, Com.
Vol. IV., 1876, p. 92), and other such spoils. Even
more important is the fact that some of these spoils
belonged to the Pantheon itself, as the two beautiful
friezes, with festoons and candelabras and sacred im-
plements, removed from the sides of the great door,
and the doorpost taken from one of the side entrances.

;^ 1 Camillo Fanucci, Trattato di tutte V opere pie, etc., c. xxxvi.

i

THE MONUMENTS IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY 115

These three pieces had been used in the restoration
of the steps leading from the square in front of the
Pantheon to the pronaos (Fig. 22), and were found
between December, 1874, and September, 1875.

The designation of S. Maria ad Martyres, given to
the Pantheon by Boniface IV., recalls an interesting
fact. According to the Liber Pontificalis, this name
was given to the newly consecrated church on account
of twenty-eight cartloads of sacred bones which had
been removed from the Catacombs and placed in a
basin of porphyry under the high altar. This was the
beginning of an important change.

I have stated above that burial in the Catacombs
was given up in 410, the year of the storming of
Rome by Alaric, and that great damage was done to
them in 637, during the siege of Vitiges. As the
country around Rome became more and more insecure
and unhealthy, and was almost completely abandoned
by its inhabitants at the time of the Langobardic
inroads, it was deemed necessary to place within the
protection of the city walls the bones of the martyrs,
whose tombs, from the time of Constantine, had more
and more become centres of pilgrimage. The first
translation of remains is the one just mentioned, of
the time of Boniface IV. ; the second took place in
648 ; the third in 682, when the bodies of Primus and
Felicianus were removed from Nomentum, and those
of Viatrix, Faustinus, and Simplicius from the ceme-

116 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

tery of Generosa, at the sixth inile-stone of the Via
Campana, in the Vigna Ceccarelli, near La Magliana.

The last exploiting of the Catacombs for the bones of
martyrs wals due to Paschal I. (817-824). Contem-
porary documents speak of " innumerable " transfer-
ences of relics. One of them, — the official register of
the relics, removed July 20, 817, to S. Prassede, —
mentions twenty-three hundred bodies deposited under
the chapel of S. Zeno, which Paschal I. had built in
memory of his mother, Theodora Episcopa. The
mosaic legend of the apse of St. Caecilia speaks like-
wise of the removal of bodies quae primum in cryptis
pausdbant.

These removals of relics are interesting from another
point of view, — they mark the beginning of archaeo-
logical research among the remains of the great impe-
rial thermae. The relics of martyrs were, as a rule,
deposited in basins and bath-tubs of rare marble, in
which the thermae of Caracalla and Diocletian particu-
larly abounded. The bones of Viatrix, Faustinus, and
Simplicius, mentioned above, were placed by Leo II.
under the high altar of the church of S. Vibiana " in
a basin of oriental alabaster of oval shape, twenty-five
palms in circumference, with heads of leopards in high
relief." Stephen V., while rebuilding the church of
SS. Apostoli in 816 A.D., likewise placed the bodies
of Eugenia and Claudia " in a basin of porphyry '*
(in concha porphyretica') . Two archaeologists, Giovanni

THE MONUMENTS IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY 117

Marangoni and Francesco tie Ficoroni, have made a
list, interesting though incomplete, of these precious
spoils of Roman baths used in churches; to it we
should add another class of works of art similarly-
employed, the sarcophagi, which occasionally take the
place of the bath basins, in spite of their reliefs of a
distinctly pagan character.

Singular as this practice seems to us, we cannot
judge of the taste of the Roman clergy in those dark
and semi-barbaric days in the light of our own feel-
ings and education. They could hardly spell the Latin
words inscribed on the marble slabs which they used in
the pavements, in the walls, and in the altars of their
churches ; much less could they understand their mean-
ing. A pedestal covered with symbols of the worship
of the Magna Mater, in its most crude and hateful
form, was used as an altar of the Crucifix in the
church of S. Michele in Borgo. The tombstone of
Flavins Agricola from Tibur, with its epicurean legend,
was discovered August 14, 1626, a few feet from the
grave of St. Peter, in the foundations of the left front
column of the Baldacchino. The high altar in the
church of S. Teodoro was supported, until 1703, by a
round altar, on the rim of which the following words
were inscribed : "On this marble of the gentiles in-
cense was offered to the gods." The pavement of
St. Paul's without the walls was patched with 931
miscellaneous inscriptions.

118 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

A worshipper raising his eyes toward the apse of the
church of SS. Cosmas and Damianus, could behold at
the same time the great mosaic figure of the Saviour,
and a group of the twin founders of the City sucking
the wolf, in opus sectile. In the basilica of Junius
Bassus on the Esquiline, Christianised under the name
of St. Andrew at the Manger, he could see the group
of the Saviour with the Apostle in the Tribune, and,
turning to the side walls, the portraits of Nero, Galba,
and six other emperors, Diana hunting the stag, Hylas
stolen by the Nymphs, Cybele on the chariot drawn by
lions, the chariot of Apollo, initiates performing mys-
terious Egyptian rites, and other representations from
pagan cults. I may mention in the last instance the
church of S. Martina, formerly the Secretarium Senatus,
the walls of which were adorned with the bas-reliefs
from the arch of Marcus Aurelius, representing the
Emperor sacrificing before the altar of Jupiter Optimus
Maximus.

The Epitome of the Chronicon Cassinense, which
dates from the time of Stephen II. (752-757), says that
after the "recovery of the Cross" made by Heraclius
in 629, the Emperor betook himself to Rome, where
he was proclaimed Emperor, and given the imperial
diadem in the throne room of the palace of the Caesars
(in augustali solio Caesareani Palatii a senatoribus posi-
tus et diademate redimitus, monocrator constitutus est).
This passage of the Chronicon shows that the palace.

THE MONUMENTS IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY 119

in spite of the pillages of Totila, of Genseric, and of
the Romans themselves, could still be used for state
ceremonies in the first half of the seventh century.

By palace I mean the special wing known in classical
times by the name of " Domitian's house " (otKia
Ao/xLTiavov^ or Aedes publicae populi Romani. This
great structure had never been used as a dwelling by
the emperors, but simply as a state residence where
they held their levees, delivered their decisions, pre-
sided over councils of state, received foreign envoys,
and gave official banquets. The building had never
required repairs, on account of the enormous solidity
of its construction. The remains of the hall, where
the coronation of Heraclius took place, are still to be
seen. It was excavated by Bianchini in 1724, and again
by Rosa in 1865. Judging from the finds made on
these two occasions, there is no doubt that in 629 this
throne room was well preserved, not only in its essen-
tial parts, such as walls, ceiling, roof, and windows,
but also in its decorative details. Bianchini discovered
two columns of giallo antico which stood on either side
of the main door, which were sold by the Duke of
Parma to the stone-cutters Perini and Macinocchi for
3000 scudi ; a threshold made of a block of Greek marble
so large that the high altar of the church of the Ro-
tonda has since been cut out of it ; fragments of the
sixteen columns of pavonazzetto supporting the entabla-
ture, with capitals and bases exquisitely cut in ivory-

120 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

coloured marble, and two out of the eight colossal
statues which stood in the niches. If so much remained
of the decoration of the hall in 1724, after it had been
at the mercy of lime-burners and stone-cutters for the
space of ten centuries, the hall itself may well have
been in almost perfect condition at the time of the
coronation of Heraclius.

Another wing of the palace, the northeast section of
the Domus G-aiana, which overlooks the Forum and the
Sacra Via, seems to have been kept in repair and some-
times occupied by the popes, as a practical evidence of
their political power in Rome. This wing was put
under the care of an officer styled a cura Palatii.
About 680 one of these officers, named Plato, rebuilt
or repaired the long staircase which ascends from the
Clivus Victoriae to the rooms above. His son, having
been elected pope in 705 under the name of John VII.,
conceived the plan of making the Domus Gaiana the
official residence of the bishops of Rome, above the
present church of S. Maria Liberatrice (super ecdesiam
sanctae Dei genetricis quae antiqua vacatur episcopium
construere voluit).

John VII. did not live to see his project carried out ;
as his successors took no interest in it, they repaired
to the monasteries and strongholds of the Palatine only
in case of necessity. There were four of these ecclesi-
astical establishments on the Palatine, the Ecclesia and
Monasterium S. Caesarii in Palatio, first mentioned in

1

THE MONUMENTS IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY 121

the time of Phocas, 603 a.d., but probably older, where
the images of the Byzantine emperors were exhibited
to the public as a symbol of the power that they still
claimed over Rome ; the monastery called Palladium,
now represented by the church of S. Sebastiano alia
Polveriera in the Vigna Barberini, near the east corner
of the hill, a strongly fortified place where the popes
sought refuge and protection in times of popular out-
breaks ; the Turris Cartularia built on the platform of
the temple of Jupiter Stator, by the arch of Titus,
in which the archives of the church were kept for
many centuries; and lastly the Septizonium, the great-
est mediaeval stronghold of the Palatine, garrisoned by
the Frangipanis under the ownership of the abbots of
the monastery SS. Andreae et Gregorii ad Clivum
Scauri.

The latest bit of evidence regarding the real or nomi-
nal occupancy of the Palatine episcopal residence by
the popes came to light November 8, 1883, during the
excavation of the House of the Vestals. At the north-
east corner of the peristyle the remains of a modest
mediaeval dwelling were discovered, belonging to a high
official of the court of Marinus II., — a pontiff, other-
wise obscure, who occupied the chair of St. Peter from
942 to 946. This official must have been in charge
of the pope's rooms which were placed among the
ruins of the Domus Gaiana. It is important to notice
that when this small house was built, at the beginning

122 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

of the tenth century, the pavement of the Atrium
Vestae was ah*eady covered with a layer of rubbish
five feet thick. The columns of the peristyle had
been removed or knocked down from their bases, the
walls stripped of their marble veneering, and even
the small tesserae of the mosaic pavement wrenched
from their setting. Around the Palatine hill clustered
the Byzantine colony, to which we owe the construc-
tion of the churches of the Anastasis, of S. Maria in
Schola Graeca, of S. Saba, of St. Theodore, and of
St. George, still existing, as well as those of S. Euplos
and S. Phocas, which have long since disappeared.^
' The visit of Heraclius to Rome in 629 is connected
with another event in the history of the destruction
of the City. He made a present to Pope Honorius I.
(625-640) of the gilt-bronze tiles which covered the
roof of the temple of Venus and Rome, to be removed
to that of St. Peter's. This fact proves that the
temple was at that time in a good state of repair;
while, on the other hand, the stripping off of the tiles
was a sure way to promote the downfall of the build-
ing. Specimens of these tiles were seen and described
by Justus Rycq and Giacomo Grimaldi at the time of
Paul v., who destroyed, in 1606, the roof and the
nave of old St. Peter's.

Another famous edifice fell at the same time into the

1 For further particulars, see the interesting chapter on the history
of the Palatine in Grisar's History of the Popes in the Middle Ayes.

THE MONUMENTS IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY 123

hands of the Pope, the Curia or Senate-house, which
he dedicated to St. Hadrian, a saint otherwise unknown.
The ancient decorations of the hall, the gilt coffers of
the vaulted roof, the marble panelling of the walls, the
bas-reliefs of the pediment, and the bronze door did
not suffer damage or alteration with the " Christianisa-
tion " of the building. They disappeared partly in 1589,
partly in 1654, at the hands of Cardinal Agostino
Cusano and of Alfonso Sotomayor, who raised the floor
of the church to the modern level, and altered the
classic shape of the building. The bronze doors were
removed to the church of St. John Lateran by Alex-
ander VII., but as the folds, which filled an aperture
about eighteen by eleven feet, were smaller than the
doorway of the Lateran, a band, ornamented with the
typical stars of the Pope (Chigi), was added to the
ancient metal work. A third edifice, the Heroon of
Romulus, son of Maxentius, lost the bronze tiles of its
roof about the same time. Pope Sergius I. saved the
temple from destruction by covering the dome with
sheets of lead.^

On July 5, 663, Rome had for the last time the mis-
fortune of an imperial visit. Constans II., compelled
by a guilty conscience on account of a fratricide to

1 See De Rossi, Bull, di arch, crist., 1867, p. 62. The sheets of lead
were afterward stolen, and vegetation, of considerable growth, sprung
up on the bare dome. When the monument was restored, in 1879, I
found roots of ilexes, and tig-trees, four inches in diameter, wedged
in the cracks of the masonry.

124 DESTKUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

wander from sanctuary to sanctuary, had undertaken a
pilgrimage to Rome in the spring of that year, and
was met by Pope Vitalianus and the few inhabitants
near the sixth mile-stone of the Appian Way. The
short and friendly visit of this Christian emperor
proved most disastrous to the Roman monuments ; he
seized everything of value which, after the repeated
sieges of Vandals, Goths, and Lombards, had been left
to plunder. The statement of Dyer in regard to this
robbery is not exaggerated. " In the twelve days which
Constans spent at Rome," says this writer, " he carried
off as many bronze statues as he could lay hands on ;
and though the Pantheon seemed to possess a double
claim to protection, as having been presented by Phocas
to the Pope, and as having been converted into a
Christian church, yet Constans was mean and sacri-
legious enough to carry off the tiles of gilt bronze
which covered it. After perpetrating these acts, which
were, at least, as bad as robberies, and attending mass
at the tomb of St. Peter, Constans carried off his
booty to Syracuse. His plunder ultimately fell into the
hands of the Saracens."

A remarkable discovery has been made in later years
bearing on this visit of Constans to Rome. The Em-
peror, between his acts of doubtful devotion in churches
and basilicas, found time to visit the pagan monuments
and ruins. These visits were recorded by one of his
attendants by scratching his sovereign's name on a

THE MONUMENTS IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY 125

prominent part of every building which the party dis-
honoured with its presence. One of these graffiti is
to be found on the four-faced arch, Janus Quadrifrons,
on the right side of the archway facing the cliurch of
S. Giorgio in Velabro, the ancient Forum Boarium ;
another on the very top of Trajan's column.

Possibly more than mere records of a visit of curi-
osit}'", these scratchings are records of plunder. There
is every probability that the statue of the "best of
Princes," on the top of the column of Trajan, was car-
ried off by this visitor. The fate of the statue on the
column of jNIarcus Aurelius also is not known ; perhaps
it was hurled down from the top of the column, and
broken into pieces by the fall. When tlie Marchese
Ferrajuoli rebuilt the foundations of his palace on the
south side of the Piazza Colonna, in 1868, the finger
of the left hand of a bronze statue of colossal size
was discovered in the layer of rubbish which covers the
ancient stone pavement of the square. It is quite pos-
sible that a careful examination of the principal Roman
monuments, such as the Coliseum, Pantheon, and the
column of Marcus Aurelius, would lead to the discovery
of other graffiti of a similar character, and thus enable
us to follow, step by step, the wanderings of the last
Emperor who saw Rome before the ravages of the
Normans.

CHAPTER XI

THE INCURSION OF THE SARACENS, IN 846, AND THE
EXTENSION OF THE FORTIFICATIONS OF THE CITY

The conquest of Palermo by the Saracens in 831
caused the reigning Pope, Gregory IV., to adopt cer-
tain measures of defence. . The first was the construc-
tion of a fort as an outpost at the mouth of the
Tiber ; another was the abandonment of the churches
outside the walls, in the wilderness of the Campagna,
their contents being transferred within the shelter of
the City's defences.

The founding of Gregoriopolis, the fortress at the
mouth of the river, is described in the Liber Ponti-
ficalis.^ We are informed that the ancient colony and
harbour of Ostia, "stricken with age, seemed to have
been altogether destroyed " ; yet there were a few fever-
stricken inhabitants still wandering among the ruins.
Gregory is praised by the biographer as having built
a new line of walls with portcullis gates, crowned
with powerful batteries (^petrariae)^ and protected by a
deep moat. The account is greatly exaggerated, to
judge from the remains of this Gregoriopolis which

1 Gregorius, IV. 38.
126

INCURSION OF THE SARACENS, IN 846 127

the late Carlo Ludovico Visconti and I laid bare in
the winter of 1867-1868. What Gregory IV. or his
representatives actually did at Ostia in the way of
erecting fortifications amounts to little or nothing.
They simply selected two or three blocks of old houses
on the left side of the main street and filled up
the doors, windows, and shop-fronts with mud walls.
They also barricaded the openings of the streets which
ran between the blocks. It is possible, although we
found no evidence, that the houses surrounding this
rudimentary fort on the opposite sides of the boundary
streets were levelled to the ground.

The Saracenic invasion of 846 is a well-known event
in its main lines, but very uncertain in its details. The
biographer of Sergius II. (844-8-1:7), a contemporary, and
perhaps an eye-witness, of the facts, leaves off his de-
scription at the most critical point. It seems that on
the 10th of August, 846, Count Adalbert, Governor of
Tuscany and protector of Corsica, sent warning that a
fleet of seventy-three Saracenic vessels, carrying eleven
thousand men and five hundred horses, had been sig-
nalled making for the mouth of the Tiber. Count
Adalbert urged the Romans to place within the protec-
tion of the walls the bodies of the princes of the
apostles, Peter and Paul, as well as the great treasure
in gold and silver which many generations of pilgrims
had deposited over their tombs in the outlying and
defenceless basilicas of the Via Cornelia and of the

128 DESTKUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

Via Ostiensis. The Romans, however, paid little atten-
tion to the warning of Adalbert, but satisfied them-
selves with communicating the contents of his letter to
the villagers and farmers of the Campagna, that these
might assemble for the defence of the coast. Villagers
and farmers, likewise, treated the message with con-
tempt ; so that when the Saracens landed at the mouth
of the Tiber, on the twenty-third of the month, they
found Gregoriopolis abandoned, and were able to make
that outpost their base of operations.

In these straits the Romans showed as much weak-
ness, not to call it cowardice, as they had previously
shown want of forethought. The only inhabitants who
had sufficient courage to rush to the defence of Porto
(on the side of the river opposite Ostia, and con-
nected with it by means of a " wretched bridge ") were
the members of the foreign colony, the Saxons, the
Frisians, and the Franks, who lived in the quarter
called Burgus, between the castle of S. Angelo and
the Vatican.

After two encounters, in which nineteen skirmishers
lost their lives, Porto was taken by the infidels and
the garrison put to the sword ; the few survivors were
pursued as far as Ponte Galera. This happened on the
26th of August ; on the following day the Saracens
marched upon Rome, while their fleet was towed up-
stream, and took possession — free and undisturbed — of
the basilicas of St. Peter and St. Paul outside the walls.

INCURSION OF THE SARACENS, IN 846 129

I have taken the pains to estimate — on the authority
of the Liher Pontificalis — the weight of gold and
silver lavished on the rich decorations of the two
churches from the time of Constantine down; as nearly
as I can reckon it, about three tons of gold and thirty
of silver must have fallen into the hands of the Sara-
cens,— an almost fabulous booty, which well repaid
them for the cost and trouble of their expedition.

While these depredations were going on, the Romans
attempted a sally in the "plains of Nero" (the Prati di
Castello), but were easily driven back. The farmers
of the Campagna, supported by the villagers from the
Alban and Tiburtine hills, seem to have been more
successful in attacking and dispersing a band of pirates
near the Basilica of St. Paul. For this reason, or per-
haps because they had secured more booty than their
vessels would hold, the invaders began their retreat,
after slaughtering a great number of men, destroying
by fire many towns and strongholds, and carrying off
"a very great booty of people and of all things."
Their infantry and cavalry went south along the Appian
Way, while the fleet skirted the coast as far as Gaeta.
Fleet and crews were ultimately lost in a gale off the
coast of Sicily.

The most important circumstance in this chain of
events is the fate of the tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul.
There can be no doubt that the Romans despised the
warning of Count Adalbert in regard to the safety of

130 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

the treasures in gold and silver belonging to both
these tombs ; all the accounts agree in testifying that
the Saracens seized in either place innumerabilia bona.
Did the people of Rome heed the second part of the
admonition as regards the bodies of the apostles? Did
they open the sarcophagi and carry the precious con-
tents within the City walls?

The answer is more than doubtful. Pope Sergius, i:
the first place, was so broken down by gout and humo
podagricus that he could attend to no duties; he was
" good for nothing," according to the statement of
his own biographer. His brother, Benedict, we learn
from the same source, was "extremely dull and
passive" (brutus et stoUdus valde^, and so of even
less account. In the second place, the Saracens fell
on both sanctuaries like a thunderbolt, according to
a plan of campaign that had been carefully matured
beforehand.

What this plan of the Moslem invaders was, it is
easy to understand. Suppose that the crusaders had
taken possession of Mecca. Would not their first aim
have been to invade the Kasbah and scatter to the
four winds the bones of the prophet? A like policy
seems to have been followed by the infidels in regard to
our sanctuaries. They certainly entered and plundered
the treasures of the crypt " where reposed the most holy
body of the Prince of the Apostles" (^uhi sacratissimum
corpus principu apostolorum requiescif) ; here is the proof

I

rsj

INCURSION OF THE SARACENS, IN 846 131

of it. Leo III. had placed over the tomb a bas-relief
of gilt silver, representing the Redeemer, the Virgin
Mary, Peter, Paul, Andrew, and Petronilla. The bas-
relief was stolen by the Saracens, and a copy was sub-
stituted in its place by Leo IV. after the retreat of the
invaders.

It would be impossible to discuss in a book like the
present all the arguments brought forward to prove
or to deny the profanation of the sanctuaries of both
Peter and Paul in 846. My opinion is that the fate
of the two holy places was not in all respects the
same ; that the sarcophagus of St. Peter, placed in a
subterranean crypt and protected by a case of solid
metal embedded in masonry, escaped rifling, while
that of St. Paul, a plain marble coffin level with the
floor of the basilica, was certainly injured or destroyed.
We find the evidence of the fact last mentioned in the
life of Benedict III.:i Sepulchrum (^Pauli apostoli) quod
a Sarracenis destructum fuerat, perornavit. The word
destructum, however, cannot be taken in a literal sense ;
the lid of the sarcophagus, with the epitaph paulo
APOSTOLO mart(ye,i) engraved in the style of the age
of Constantine, is still in existence. I saw it on Decem-

1 Chapter xxii. in Duchesne's edition of the Xiber Pontificalis, Vol.
II. p. 145. The passage relating to St. Peter's, in the life of Leo IV.,
mentions not the grave, but the altar of the Apostle as having been
injured by the Saracens : beatiss. Petri altare violatum et ad vilitatem
perductum.

132

DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

ber 1, 1891, having lowered myself from the fenestella
under the high altar.i (Fig. 23.)

The most noteworthy consequence of these events,

from a topographical point of view, was the inclusion

Fig. 23. — The tomb of St. Paul and the canopy of Arnolf o di Lapo in S. Paolo
fuori le Mura, after the fire of 1823.

of the Vatican district in the City proper, and the
construction of two powerful outlying forts, one at
St. Paul's, the other at the church of S. Lorenzo fuori
le Mura.

The walls of the Civitas Leonina, or Burgus, are

1 See Pagan and Christian Rome, p. 167.

ill

INCURSION OF THE SARACENS, IN 846 133

still in existence, and are properly considered a mas-
terpiece of mediaeval military engineering. Leo IV.
undertook to imitate, to a certain extent, the construc-
tion of the wall of Aurelian. His structure is twelve
feet thick, and has two galleries, one above the other.
The lower gallery is supported by open arcades facing
within. The upper one is level with the battlements.
The arcades of the lower gallery were walled up in
the fifteenth century by Pope Borgia, and the gallery
itself transformed into a secret passage — the famous
Corridojo di Castello — connecting the palace of the
Vatican with the fortress of S. Angelo. To this cor-
ridor many popes and cardinals have been indebted for
escape from death or servitude ; one of the most strik-
ing instances is that of Pope Clement VII., who in
May, 1527, fled through this passage from the hordes
of Charles of Bourbon.

The construction of the Leonine wall, so elaborate
in the level stretch between the Vatican and the for-
tress of S. Angelo, becomes more simple on the hill
behind the church, the steep slopes of which consti-
tute a natural and effective line of defence. Here
we find a plain wall with no galleries, save a passage
at the height of the battlements, as may be seen in
our illustration. (Fig. 24.) The most exposed angles
were protected by round towers, two of which are
still in existence and form a conspicuous landmark in
the Vatican landscape. The one represented in the

134

DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

illustration, which stands at a height of 187 feet above
the sea, commands an unlimited view over the Cam-
pagna and the coast, and is therefore described as the

I

Fig. 24. — Tower of the wall of Leo IV., now used as an observatory.

turris unde mare prospicitur in the early representa-
tions of the Vatican group. It is now used as an ob-
servatory for photographing the section of the heavens
which was allotted to the Holy See by the Interna-

I

INCURSION OF THE SARACENS, IN 846 135

tional Astronomical Congress. ^ The other tower is
used as a chapel for the new summer casino of
Leo XIII.

The pontifical treasury and the resources of the citi-
zens of Rome were unequal to the task of completing
the walls in the required time. A system of forced
service (^praestatio opens') was in consequence resorted
to, and the colonists of the fortified farms of the
Campagna were called upon to take a share in the
work. Two inscriptions, now affixed to the arch which
spans the Via Angelica, give important details of the
scheme adopted to obtain thus speedy assistance and
cheap labour. One says, "In the time of our Lord
the Pope Leo IV., the Militia Saltisina (a colony on
the road to Ardea, fifteen miles from Rome) built these
two towers, and the wall between them ; " the other,
" In the time of our Lord the Pope Leo IV., the
Militia Capracorum (a colony founded by Hadrian I.
near the ruins of Veil on the site of the present farm
of S. Cornelia) built this tower and the wall which
connects it with the next." Both companies declare
that they worked under the direction of a certain Agatho,
who was probably the chief engineer of the Leonine wall.

In 880 John VIII. did for St. Paul's without the
Walls what Leo IV. had done thirty years before for
St. Peter's, but with this difference, that while the

1 This work is entrusted mostly to Cavaliere Mannucci, to whom I
am indebted for the illustration.

136 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

Burgus was included in and became a part of the City
proper, the Basilica Ostiensis with its adjoining mon-
astery and hospices remained a detached fort, con-
nected with the City only by means of a colonnade a
mile long. The stronghold — of which no trace is now
to be seen above ground — was named Johannipolis after
its founder. A second detached fort was built about
the same time for the protection of the basilica of
S. Lorenzo fuori le Mura. No historical document
mentions the fact, but we possess a drawing of Martin
Heemskerk which shows the state of the stronghold
about 1534.1 The fact that two inhabited centres of
the Campagna, Saltisinum and Capracorum, could fur-
nish a strong contingent of soldier- work men for the
defence of the Capital, seems to prove that a few forti-
fied farms did escape from the depredation of the
Saracens. I may add that some of the Saracens them-
selves, namely, the prisoners taken at St. Paul's and
on the road to Gaeta, were compelled to take a share
in the work, the fact being recorded in an inscription.^
The extent of the zone plundered in the fearful visita-
tion of 846 can be determined with the help of the list
of churches which Leo IV. had to refurnish with sacred
implements and vestments. None of the church build-
ings, however, seem to have been materially damaged;
at least I have not been able to find in the Liber Pon-

1 Reproduced in Buins and Excavations^ Fig. 35.

2 Pe Rossi, Inscriptiones Ckristiant^e urhis Homae, Vol. II. p. 347,

I

INCURSION OF THE SARACENS, IN 846 137

tificalis any mention of Leo IV. or his successors having
repaired roofs, walls, windows, or doors. The list of
plundered churches comprises those of Silva Candida,
of the delta of the Tiber, of Ostia and Porto. I must
record especially that of S. Cyriacus on the Via Osti-
ensis, because it was just in the neighbourhood of its
remains that Signor Pietro Rocchi discovered some
twenty-five years ago traces of one of the Saracenic
camps, consisting mainly of daggers and poniards with
curved blades of Oriental make. Other churches are
mentioned on the Tusculan and Alban hills (Frascati,
Morena, Massa Maruli), and along the Via Appia as
far as Terracina and Fondi. Important, above all, is
the mention of the church of SS. Cosmas and Dami-
anus (S. Cosimato) near Subiaco, because it shows that
the Saracens carried their devastation as far as the
upper valley of the Anio, and into the very heart of
the Simbruine Mountains.

We find a survival from this incursion at the present
day in the village of Saracinesco, perched like an eagle's
nest on a conical and almost inaccessible peak at a
height of 2500 feet above the sea, and of 1350 feet
above S. Cosimato. There is no doubt that a foraging
party, having been cut off from the main body, and
finding a retreat impossible, took shelter among these
rocky precipices, and that afterwards they were allowed
to form a settlement and live in peace by substituting
the cross for the crescent. Some of the inhabitants,

138 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

who come to Rome every winter clad in their pictu-
resque costumes as painters' models, have preserved
their Arabic names, like El-Mansour (Almansorre).
Elmansour is also the name of a cave in the neighbour-
hood of the village. From this point of view, there-
fore, our valley of the Anio forms a counterpart of
the Saas-Thal in the Valaisan Alps, the villages and
peaks of which still preserve their Saracenic names
(Monte Moro, AUalin, Mischabel, Alphubel, Almagell,
Balferin, etc.), from the invasion of 927.

CHAPTER XII

THE FLOOD OF 856

On January 6, 856, when Benedict III. was pope, the
Tiber rose violently, broke through the embankments,
and flooded the lower quarters of the City to the
depth of several feet. According to the Liber Ponti-
ficalis the waters reached the highest step of the stairs
of St. Dionysius, near the present church of S. Silvestro
in Capite, and the architrave of the door of S. Maria
in Via Lata. Houses fell or were washed away by the
hundred, trees were uprooted, men and cattle drowned,
and crops destroyed, all the way down the river from
Rome to the sea.

What damage was in this instance done to the classic
monuments we do not know ; but the records show that
during the Middle Ages there were several destructive
inundations of the Tiber, and they are described with
an almost stereotyped formula in the Liber Pontificalis.
The formula runs thus : —

On such an hour, on such a day of such a year,i ^j^e
waters broke through the posterula of St. Agatha, and

^ Hora diei X. for the inundation of October 30, 860, See Liber
Pontificalis, Vol. II. p. 145, chap, xxiii.

139

140

DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

rushing over the waste fields of the Campus Martius,
followed the line of the Via Flaminia (the modern Corso)
to the foot of the Capitoline hill ; then, pushed back by
this obstacle, they followed the line of the Pallacinae, etc.
Such a description would not be applied to a gentle
rising of the waters, which quietly spread over the low-

FiG. 25. — The Forum flooded by the Tiber — 1898.

lying districts, giving time to the citizens to save life
and property ; we have here rather a sudden outburst,
produced by the breaking away of an obstacle, whether
a levee, or an embankment, or a wall. In the inundation
of 856 the obstacle must have been in the line of the

THE FLOOD OF 856 141

walls of Aurelian and Honorius, which followed the left
bank of the river from the Turris uhi umbra Neronis
diu mansitavit, by the present Ponte Margherita, to
the Ponte Sisto. There were two or three gaps in
the wall, called posterulae, which served to give access
to the ferries and to the mooring stations along the
bank. The posterula of St. Agatha, through which
the inundations broke, was the northernmost of the
gaps, and consequently the most exposed of all ; any
temporary obstruction of the water here would be apt
to give way first under the pressure of the flood.

Even in modern times floods have been not infre-
quent. Our illustration shows the Forum under water
at the time of a freshet (Fig. 25). A destructive
inundation in 1557 carried away part of the Pons
Aemilius (Fig. 44).

CHAPTER XIII

THE ROME OF THE EINSIEDLEN ITINERARY

The name Einsiedlen Itinerary has been given to
a summary description of Rome dating from the ninth
century, which is appended to a collection of inscrip-
tions, mostly of Roman origin, in a manuscript volume
formerly in the library of the Abbey of Pfeffers, now
in that of Einsiedeln, in Switzerland. The volume has
been examined and illustrated in its minutest details
by Haenel, Jordan, De Rossi, and myself. ^ Our joint
researches have proved that the Itinerary was made up
of the legends of a map of Rome of the time of
Charlemagne, prepared for the use of pilgrims. The
legends, therefore, are arranged so as to form eleven
itineraries, or routes, between the main centres of
religious attraction. The list is as follows : —

Route

I. From the Aelian Bridge to the Esquiline, by S. Lucia in

Selce.

II. From the Aelian Bridge to the Porta Salaria.

1 Haenel, in Archiv fur Philologie und Padagogik, Vol. V. (1837)
pp. 115-138 ; Jordan, Topographie von Bom, Vol. II. p. 329 ; De Rossi,
Inscr. Christ., Vol. II. pp. 9 et seq.; Lanciani, V Itinerario di Einsiedlen
e V Ordo di Benedetto Canonico, Rome, 1891,

142

i

THE ROME OF THE EINSIEDLEN ITINERARY 143

in. From the Aelian Bridge to the Porta Asiuaria (now S.
Giovanni).

rV. From the Aelian Bridge to St. Paul's without the Walls.

V. From the Porta Nomentana to the Forum Romanum.

VI. From the Porta Flaminia (now Porta del Popolo) to the
Capitol (Via di Marforio).

Vn. From the Porta Tiburtina (S. Lorenzo) to the Subura by
the Esquiline gate of Servius ; and again

VIII. From the Porta Tiburtina to the Subura by the Viniinal
gate of Servius.

IX. From the Porta Aurelia (S. Pancrazio) to the Porta Prae-
nestina (now Porta Maggiore).

X. From the Circus Maximus to the Porta Metroni, across the
Caelian Hill.

XI. From the Porta Appia (now Porta di S. Sebastiano) to the
Schola Graeca (Bocca della Verita).

The Ninth Route, from west to east, marks what the
camp surveyors would call the decumanus maior ; the
Third, from north to south, approximately, gives us
the line of a cardo^ at right angles with it ; the others
are designed to illustrate the four quarters formed by
the intersection of the cardo and the decumanus. The
author of the document had two purposes in view :
first, to show the pilgrims their way from one basilica
to another, from the grave of one martyr to that of
another ; and secondly, to point out to them the most
conspicuous edifices, profane as well as sacred, which
they would see on the right or on the left of their

r

144 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

path. The map used by the compiler of the Itinerary
is the oldest of which we have knowledge, after those
of the time of Constantine, which served for the com-
pilation of the Notitia and of the Curiosum Urbis ; in
fact, I believe it to be a revised edition of the Con-
stantinian map, because some of the names are so
distinctly classical (as, Vicus Patricii, Minervium, Ha-
drianum) as to betray a much earlier origin than the
time of Charlemagne.

The streets along which the pilgrim is led through
the City are exactly those of imperial Rome ; no
change had yet taken place in their direction, and
their pavement of blocks of basalt, worn by age, was
not yet covered with a layer of rubbish or with sand
from the inundations of the Tiber. I am speaking, of
course, in general ; for there is more than one instance
of deviation from a straight line, in order to avoid
obstacles placed in the way by the downfall of some
great building of the Republic or of the Empire. mM\

A conception of the importance of this document, as
throwing light on the state of the Roman monuments
in the ninth century, may be gained from the first of
the Routes, which takes us from the Aelian Bridge
to the Esquiline, directly through the heart of the
City. The edifices are grouped in three columns :
those on the right of the path, IN D (extra); those on
the left, I N S(inistra) ; and those crossed by the path_
itself. The text says : —

THE ROME OF THE EINSIEDLEN ITINERARY 145

FROM THE GATE OF ST. PETER TO THE CHURCH OF
S. LUCIA IN ORTHEA

On the Right
The Circus Flaminius.

On the Left

The Rotunda.

The thermae of Commodus

The church of S. Laurentius in

Damaso.
The theatre of Pompey. The

Cypress.
The church of St. Lawrence. The
Capitol.
The Forum of Trajan and its The church of S. Sergius, where
column. is the Umbilicus Komae.

The Arch of Septimius Severus.
The Tiber. The equestrian statue of Con-

The church of St. Hadrian. stantine.

The Forum Romanum.
The church of St. Agatha.

Subura.
The thermae of Constantine. The church of S. Pudens in Vice

Patricii.
The church, of S. Vitalis in Vico The church of S. Laurentius in
Longo, where the beautiful Formoso. Back again by the

horses are. Subura.

The church of S. Euphemia in The thermae of Trajan ad Vin-
Vico Patricii. cula.

The gate of St. Peter, from which we start, is the
gate of the Aurelian wall, which opened at the left or
Cistiberine entrance to the Aelian Bridge, on the site
of the present Piazza di Ponte S. Angelo. Its classical
name of Porta Aurelia (nova) had since the time of
Procopius {Goth. I. 19) been superseded by that of
Peter, "the chief of the apostles." We now enter the

146 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

Via del Banco di S. Spirito, Via dei Banchi Vecchi,
and Via del Pellegrino, all ancient as shown by the re-
mains of Roman basaltic pavement which are constantly
discovered under the modern pavement at a depth vary-
ing from ten to fifteen feet. The buildings pointed
out on the left are : the Stadium, where now is the
Piazza Navona, to which the name of Circus Flaminius
is wrongly applied ; the Rotunda, or Pantheon ; the
Thermae Commodianae, probably the Baths of Agrippa
restored by Commodus. First on the right are the
Library and archives of the Church of Rome, founded
by Pope Damasus in the barracks of the green squadron
of charioteers (Stabula Factionis Prasinae, S. Lauren-
tius in Prasino); and the theatre of Pompey, the re-
mains of which occupy the space between the Piazza
di Campo di Fiori and the Via Argentina.

We are not sure what is meant by " the Cypress "
{Cupressus'), which in our itinerary follows the mention
of Pompey's theatre. Names of streets, or even of
quarters, derived from a solitary tree growing conspicu-
ously in a wilderness of ruins, are not infrequent in
Rome. Our Ninth Ward (Rione) is actually called
della Pigna, " Pine-tree Ward " ; we have also a
Piazza dell' Olmo, "Elm-tree Square," and a Piaz-
zetta del Fico, " Fig-tree " ; a Via dell' Arancio, etc.
Yet, while such designations may be adopted by the
populace, it seems hardly credible that they should have
been registered in such a document as the Itinerary^,

THE ROME OF THE EINSIEDLEN ITINERARY 147

and put down as indicating one of the most important
landmarks of the City.

Resuming our journey toward the Forum, we enter
the Via delle Botteghe Oscure, skirting the east side of
the Circus Flaminius (the site of which is indicated
by that of the church of S. Laurentius in Pensilis,
built among and above its ruins), then the Via di S.
Marco or Pallacinae, and lastly the Via di Marforio,
named Clivus Argentarius in antiquity, and Ascesa
Prothi in the Middle Ages. The Itinerary mentions
the Capitoline hill and the church of SS. Sergius and
Bacchus on the left, the Forum and the column of
Trajan on the right. Entering the Forum Romanum by
the arch of Septimius Severus, we turn at once to the
left, and following the succession of short streets, Via
della Croce Bianca, de' Monti, Leonina, and Via di S.
Lucia in Selce, corresponding to the Argiletum, Subura,
and to the Clivus Suburanus, we reach the end of the
journey at the Esquiline gate, in the neighbourhood of
the church of S. Lucia in Orthea, better known under
the name of S. Lucia in Selce.

Nine points of interest are recorded on the left,
namely, the Senate-house dedicated to St. Hadrian by
Pope Honorius I., the church of S. Cyriacus, now
called dei SS. Quirico e Giolitta ; the church of St.
Agatha, the Baths of Constantine, and the beautiful
group of the Horse-tamers, from which the Quirinal
hill borrowed its popular name of Monte Cavallo; and

148 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

lastly, the four churches of S. Vitalis on the Vicus
Longus (Via di S. Vitale), of S. Lorenzo in Panisperna,
of Pudens, and of S. Euphemia on the Vicus Patricii
(Via Urbana, Via del Bambino Gesu). All * these
churches are still extant except that of S. Euphemia,
which was destroyed by Sixtus V. in 1587, while
cutting open the new street between the Panisperna
and S. Maria Maggiore. On the right two edifices
only are mentioned, the Baths of Trajan and the
Basilica of S. Pietro in Vincoli. Though in general
it is true that the modern streets mentioned above, dei
Banchi, del Pellegrino, delle Botteghe Oscure, etc., follow
the lines of ancient thoroughfares, the statement must
not be accepted too literally. There is usually a
slight deviation to the right or to the left, in conse-
quence of which the old pavements of basalt have come
to light, as a rule, under the houses which flank the
modern streets, rather than under the streets them-
selves. ^HJ

The importance of the other section of this precious
document, in which are transcribed some of the monu-
mental inscriptions of the City, is almost as great as
of that containing the Itinerary. I do not refer to
inscriptions from the edifices which are still in exist-
ence, such as the arch of Claudius in the Via del
Nazzareno, the obelisk of the Vatican, the column
of Trajan, and the arch of Septimius Severus, but to
those from buildings which have partly or wholly

ft

d

THE ROME OF THE EINSIEDLEN ITINERARY 151

disappeared. Following the order of the manuscript
we find the first monument to be the bridge by which
the Via Salaria crossed the river Anio, broken down
first by Totila in 544, again by the Neapolitan army
in 1798, and for the third time by the Pope's own
soldiers in 1867 (Fig. 26).

Next in order are inscriptions from the square base
of the mausoleum of Hadrian, the epitaphs of the
great emperors of the second century buried within.
The epitaphs were destroyed in July, 1579, by Pope
Gregory XIII., who made use of the marbles for the
decoration of the Cappella Gregoriana in St. Peter's.
The document mentions furthermore the triumphal arch
of Arcadius, Honorius, and Theodosius, which stood by
the church of S. Orso at the entrance of the bridge
of Nero (Pons Neronianus or Vaticanus); that of Gra-
tian, Valentinian, and Theodosius, which stood by the
church of S. Celso in Banchi, destroyed toward the
end of the fifteenth century ; and lastly an arch built
by Titus at the curved end of the Circus Maximus,
the fate of which is not known.

We find a reference also to a Nymphaeura, which
was rebuilt in the fifth century by Flavins Phi-
lippus, prefect of the City, at the corner of the Via
della Navicella (Vicus Capitis Africae) and Via dei
SS. Quattro (Tabernola); we possess a drawing of it,
made about 1500 by Peruzzi.^ The monumental in-

1 C. I. L. VL 1728 a.

152 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

scriptions of the market (macellum) of Livia were still
in place ; they were afterwards made use of in the
restoration of various churches, including that of S.
Maria in Trastevere, two miles distant,^ from the
pavement of which they came to light again in 1868.
The Baths of the Julii Akarii, which, according to
another document of the Einsiedlen manuscript, stood
near the island of S. Bartolomeo, are otherwise un-
known. The Septizonium at the south corner of the
Palatine hill seems already to have fallen into a ruin-
ous condition. The inscription on the frieze of the
lower colonnade numbered originally 280 letters, of
which 118 could be copied by the Einsiedlen scribe,
on the extreme left of the building toward the Circus
Maximus, and 45 letters by the anonymous Barberi-
nianus (^Cod. XXX. 25) on the extreme right toward
the arch of Constantine. There was consequently a gap
of 117 letters between the two ends of the ruins,
which were respectively called Septem Solia Maior
and Septem Solia Minor. As the total length of the
building was not far from three hundred feet, two-
fifths had seemingly collapsed before or about the time
of Charlemagne.^

Another inscription of the collection refers in a
rather confused way to the repairs made by Arcadius
and Honorius to the theatre of Pompey, which had

1 a I. L. VI. 1178.

8 Buins and Excavations, p. 183,

THE ROME OF THE EINSIEDLEN ITINERARY 153

been half -ruined by an earthquake. ^ The Forum of
Trajan and the Baths of Diocletian still retained some
of their monumental inscriptions in place. The pave-
ment of the Forum Roraanum, of the Sacra Via, of
the Vicus Tuscus, and of the Argiletum was still clear
from any accumulation of rubbish, as shown by the
fact that the compiler of the collection could copy
the inscription of the Caballus Constantini, and others
almost level with the pavement itself. He saw also
several monuments on the Capitoline hill, and con-
siderable remains of the embankment walls of the
Tiber. 2 It appears, finally, that many tombs along
the lonesonie roads of the Campagna still retained
their epitaphs and marble decorations, and that, here
and there, the eye fell on an edict issued, centuries
before, by some prefect of the City, such as the
regulations against the frauds of the millers of the
Janiculum, and of the customs officers stationed at
the gates and posterns of the walls of Arcadius and
Honorius.^

1 C. I. L. VI. 1191.

2 Ihid., 472, 662, 773, 916, 1014, 1472, 1708.
8 Ibid., 1711, 1016, c.

CHAPTER XIV

THE USURPERS OF THE HOLY SEE, AND THE SACK

OF 1084

The two centuries between the pontificate of John
VIII. (872-882) and that of Gregory VII. (1073-1085)
witnessed the deepest degradation in the history olj
mediaeval Rome. As we follow the chain of events,
roughly described in contemporary chronicles, we are
often reminded of the time of the "thirty tyrants" in
the third century of the Empire, the comparison being
always in favour of these last.

We read of pontificates lasting only weeks or even
days, as that of Boniface VI., which extended over fif-
teen days ; of Theodore II., who was Pope for twenty
days, and of Benedict V., who filled the chair of St.
Peter for sixty-three days. There were forty-nine
popes in two hundred years, and the succession was
determined, not by established usage, but by the preva-
lence for the moment of one or another faction. Popes
were elected in direct opposition to the statutes of
canon law, as Marinus I. (882-884), Formosus (891- ,
896), and John X. (914-928) ; elections were secured «|
by an open purchase of votes, as that of Benedict

154 \

i

THE USURPERS OF THE HOLY SEE 155

VIII. ;^ there was a double and even a triple election,
— that of Sergius III. and John IX. in 898, and that
of Benedict IX., Sylvester III., and Gregory VI. in
1045.

The supreme pontiff might be thrown into prison
by his own attendants, as was Leo V., in 903, after
reigning only 40 days ; usurpers might in turn be ex-
pelled and shut up in a monastery, as Christopher was
m 904; a pope might be strangled with a rope, or
suffocated with pillows, or stabbed to the heart, as
Stephen VI., Leo V., Christopher I., John X., John
XII., Benedict VI. ;2 or chased from the chair of St.
Peter, as Romanus was. The grave of a pope might
be violated for the sake of tlie richly embroidered vest-
ments in which the body had been buried, as was the
..omb of Hadrian III., at Nonantola, in 885 ; ^ in one
case the body itself was exhumed from before the high
altar, slashed in the face and hands, mutilated, dragged
on the floor of St. Peter's, and thrown into the river, —
such a lot befell the corpse of Formosus in 896.*

Sepulchral inscriptions of popes in this period are still

1 1021-1024. The sum spent on this occasion is variously stated
at 1000 to 2000 pounds of Papienses, or gold denarii coined at Pavia.
See Lib. Pont. Vol. II. pp. 270, 275.

2 De Rossi, Inscr. Christ. Vol. II. p. 215 ; Auxilius, Defens. Formos.
ch. 10 ; Lib. Pont. Vol. II. p. 235, n. 1, p. 248, n. 18 ; Lintpraud, Auta-
pod. III. 43 ; Martinus Polonus in Lib. Pont. Vol. II. p. 240.

8 Lib. Pont. Vol. 11. p. 225, n. 3.

*"Ann. Alamann." in Mon. Germ. Scr. Vol. I. p. 63; Diimmler,
Auxilius und Vulgarius, p. 95,

156" DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

extant in which their predecessors are called " wolves " ^
and "unclean. "2 The sacred office was at the mercy
of an unspeakable Theodora vestararia and a Marotia
senatrix.^ Patricians, like George Aventinensis and
Gregory the Nomenclator,^ were blinded, mutilated, and
dragged from church to church. Matrons were punished;]
by being stripped of their garments in the face of the
populace and scourged till the blood ran, like Maria*
Superista.^ There were fights in the streets, attacks onJ
the castle of St. Angelo, appeals — often successful —
to foreign invaders, famine, pestilence, fires, robberies,
murders. The extent to which the moral sense of menj
was blunted may be inferred from the fact that the^
paternity of John XI. (931-936) is registered in the]
Liber Pontificalis in words that are unquotable. But it
is only fair to remember that this shocking state of
affairs did not prevail in Rome alone. The whole of
Europe in those dark days was corrupt ; yet, even in
this period, we now and then find a pope of noble
character, whose virtue, wisdom, and sanctity are in
striking contrast with the tendencies of the age.

To what vicissitudes the remains of ancient Rome were
subject in the tenth century it is easier to imagine than

1 De Rossi, Inscr. Christ. Vol. II. p. 212.

2 Ihid. p. 215, and Lih. Pont. Vol. II. p. 258, n. 4.

3 Chronicon of Benedict of Soracte, ad a. 928.
* Mon. Germ. Scr. Lang. p. 483 ; Ann. Fuld. ad a. 882 ; Auxilius,

Defens. Formos. ch. 4.

^ Mon. Germ. JScr. Lang. p. 483.

THE USURPERS OF THE HOLY SEE 157

to set forth in detail. Amidst general disorder and the
strifes of contending factions, they became the prey of
any one who had the power to seize them and use them
for his own purposes. Some great buildings were trans-
formed into strongholds ; others were levelled to the
ground to prevent their occupation by the opposite
faction. A few were occupied by the lowest orders of
tradespeople ; thus the Forum Transitorium was taken
possession of by the butchers, the Basilica Julia by the
rope-makers, the Crypta Balbi by the candle-makers, and
the Circus Flaminius by the lime-burners.

There was a decline in the number of pilgrims vis-
iting the Holy City. Lack of knowledge — in regard
to reading and writing — 'had extended so far that,
after the double election of Sylvester and Gregory,
in 1045, as both these popes were illiterate, a third
pontiff was named who could help them celebrate the
holy offices.^

The falling off in the number of pilgrims was manifest
in the shrinkage of the " Pilgrim's Pence," the principal
item in the revenue of the Holy See. This was due to
the insecurity of travel not only in the Campagna, but
also in the rest of Italy and in the Alpine passes. There
were regular bands of highwaymen, organized to waylay
the pilgrims and rob them of the pence that they were
expecting to offer to the "great beggar," as Rome was
called. Especially for pilgrims from the northern side

1 See Mon. Germ. Scr. Lang. Vol. VI. p. 358 ad a. 1044.

158 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

of the Alps the journey to the "seat of the Apos-
tles" involved risks and sufferings which now seem in-
credible. An inscription formerly in the parish church
of Bourg-St. -Pierre, in the Val d'Entremont, recorded
the murders committed by a band of Saracens in the
St. Bernard Pass. These were the Moors of Frassi-
neto, who for more than half a century, from 906 to
973, commanded the passes of the western Alps, ex-
acting heavy ransoms from travellers, especially pil-
grims. In 9-40 they crossed the St. Bernard and fell
on the rich monastery of St. Maurice in the Rhone
Valley. In 973, a distinguished pilgrim, Maiolus, abbot
of Cluny, was taken at the bridge of Orsieres, and
compelled to pay a large sum in gold to save his
life.

The outlaws of the Campagna vied in rapacity and
cruelty with the Moors of Frassineto ; and, although
the popes of a later age succeeded in extirpating the
evil, as regards the existence of regularly organized
bands, yet the lonely roads converging to Rome have i
not until recently been quite secure. There exists still I
(at least, I saw it a few years ago) a modest wooden j
cross on the left bank of the ancient Via Clodia, oppo-
site the so-called Sepoltura di Nerone, which marks ^i
the spot where a young female pilgrim was atrociously ™
murdered in 1827.^

Toward the beginning of this troubled period the

1 Shown in Eig. 17, p. 93.

THE SACK OF 1084 159

loss of revenue from the contributions of pilgrims was
temporarily offset by an increase from an unexpected
source. In the pontificate of Stephen VI. (896-897),
the venerable basilica of St. John Lateran fell in. Negli-
gently built, with spoils from earlier edifices, as were
the other churches of the time of Constantine, it had
long since begun to show signs of decay. The walls
of the nave rested on columns of various kinds of marble,
differing in height and strength. These, yielding under
the pressure of the roof, bulged outward so far that
the ends of the beams of the roof-trusses came out of
their sockets, and the building collapsed. In the basilica
were untold treasures accumulated in the course of cen-
turies ; as Gains Marius stole from the smouldering ruins
of the temple of Jupiter on the Capitol (83 B.C.) several
thousand pounds of gold, and Julius Caesar gathered
large sums of money from the demolition of the temple
of Pietas, near the Forum Holitorium, so the "usurpers
of the Apostolic See bore from the basilica all its
treasures, all its furniture of gold and silver, and all
the utensils."

The chastisement that followed those evil days was
sweeping, and introduced a new era, at least so far as
the history of the papacy is concerned ; and the fortunes
of the papacy were always closely connected with the
fate of the City. Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia,
arrived in sight of the walls of Rome, May 24, 1084,

160 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

and established his camp among the ruins of the aque-
ducts, probably on the same spot — by the Torre del
Fiscale, fourth mile-stone of the Via Latina — where the
Goths had encamped 547 years before. The Romans
displayed more courage than might have been expected.
Abandoned by the Emperor Henry IV., whom they hadi
welcomed as a liberator only a few days previously,
knowing what they had to expect at the hands of tli
Normans and Saracens, whom Gregory VII., Pope
Hildebrand, had summoned to his rescue, they pluckily^
entered on the unequal fight. There were traiton
among them, however, chief of whom was the consul
Cencio Frangipane. At daybreak of May 28 the Nor-.
mans and their infidel allies effected a double entrance
by the Porta Flaminia (now Porta del Popolo) and the
Porta Tiburtina (now Porta di S. Lorenzo) ; fighting
their way through the eastern quarter of the city, they
succeeded in releasing the Pope from the Castle of St.
Angelo, and conducted him amid fire and carnage to
the Lateran. The whole of the Campus Martins and of
the Caelian hill was devastated by the flames, and the
unhappy City became the scene of horrors, in compari-
son with which the sack of the Vandals seems merciful.
On the third day the citizens tried to rise once more
against their foes, but the attempt was stifled in blood
and Are. JH

The scene is well pictured by Gregorovius. "When
both flames and the tumult of battle had subsided," says

THE SACK OF 1084 161

the learned author of Rome in the Middle Ages} " Rome
lay a heap of smoking ashes before Gregory's eyes ;
burnt churches, streets in ruins, the dead bodies of
Romans, formed a thousand accusers against him. The
Pope must have averted his eyes as the Romans, bound
with cords, were led in troops into their camp by Sara-
cens. Noble women, men calling themselves senators,
children, and youths were openly sold like cattle into
slavery; others, and among them the imperial prefect,
were carried as prisoners of state to Calabria. Goths
and Vandals, nevertheless, had been more fortunate than
were the Normans, since Goths and Vandals had found
Rome filled with inexhaustible wealth, while the plunder
of the Moslems in the service of the duke could no
longer have been comparable to that which their pre-
decessors had ravished from St. Peter's 230 years before.
The city was now terribly impoverished, and even the
churches were devoid of ornament. Mutilated statues
stood in the ruinous streets or lay in the dust amid the
relics of baths and temples. Hideous images of saints
remained here and there in the basilicas, which were
already falling into decay, and attracted the spoiler by
the gold which was possibly still affixed to them by
votaries. The brutal fury of the victors satisfied itself
for some days in robbery and murder, until the Romans,
a sword and a cord round their necks, threw them-
selves at the feet of the duke. The grim conqueror

1 Mrs. Hamilton's translation, Vol. IV. p. 246,

162 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT EOME

felt compassion, but he could not make good the:
losses."

Even after the lapse of so many centuries, we can stilF
find in Rome traces of this Norman-Saracenic invasion.
The Caelian quarter as a whole has never recovered from
the state of desolation to which it was reduced in 1084
(Fig. 27). The few roads which traverse this silent
region are practically the same as those through which
Gregory VII. had been hurried from the castle of S.
Angelo to the Lateran ; only their present level is higher,
the layer of debris from the burnt edifices having
considerably raised the level of the whole district. We
have evidence of this in the two churches of S. Clemente,
one above the other. The lower church shows the level
of the city before, and the upper that after, the fir
The reconstruction of S. Clemente was undertaken, after
the withdrawal of Robert Guiscard, by Cardinal Anas-
tasius, who died in 1126 or 1128, leaving the comple-
tion of the work to Cardinal Pietro Pisano. This
information has lately been obtained from the epitaph
of Cardinal Pisano, which was accidentally discovered
in the foundations of a new house in Via Arenula. The
marble slab on which this inscription was cut appears
to have been divided up into small squares, at an un-
known date, to pave a room in a house two miles dis-
tant from S. Clemente. There is a difference in level
of thirteen feet and seven inches between the earlier
and the later church.

ell

I

THE SACK OF 1084 165

The fate of another ecclesiastical building on the
Caelian, the church of the SS. Quattro Coronati, de-
stroyed by the same fire, is somewhat different. This
church was rebuilt by Paschal II. in 1111 on the same
level, for the reason that the debris of the fire had evi-
dently rolled down the slopes of the knoll on which the
building stood, but it occupies only a small portion of
the original area. We learn from the inscription of
Paschal II., still extant, that he made excavations under
the marble floor in search of some holy relics: iussit
cavare sub altare quod prius combustum et confractum
fuerat et invenit duas concas unam porphireticam et aliam
ex proconesso in quibus erant recondita sacra corpora.
The work was not completed till January 7, 1116. To
the same Pope is due also the reconstruction of the
churches of S. Adriano in the Forum Romanum (1110),
of S. Maria in Monticelli, of S. Pantaleo ai Monti (1113),
of S. Salvatore in Primicerio (1113), and of a chapel
near the Porta Flaminia, erected to scare away the ghost
of Nero, by which it was believed that belated travellers
were pursued on entering the city.

Much has been written in regard to the extent of the
damage done to the pagan monuments by the pillage
and fire of 1084. It must have been great, especially
in the region of the Caelian, of the Oppian, and of the
valley which runs between these hills in the direction of
the Lateran. The old Porta Asinaria was named, after
the catastrophe, the Porta Perusta, or the " burnt gate."

166 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

In fact, the final decay of the City, — the abandonment,
of the old level of streets and squares (Fig. 28), the
disappearance of the remains of private houses, and even
of some public edifices, — dates from this fearful confla-
gration. The hills, long since stricken by water famine,
now ceased altogether to be inhabited, and the scanty]
population pressed more and more toward the Campua
Martius,- where the digging of wells was easier on ac-
count of the alluvial soil which forms the valley of the
Tiber. The larger monuments, such as temples, theatres,1
and baths, were not much damaged by the fire. The col-
umns of Trajan and of Marcus Aurelius did not suffer at
all, being in the middle of open squares. The collection
of works of art in bronze at the Lateran, and that of
marble statues on the Quirinal, also went safely through
the ordeal. Hildebert, Archbishop of Tours, who visited
Rome in 1106 or 1107, speaks of great remains which
struck him with admiration, and also of the beautiful
statues in which the City still abounded.

We know one of the reasons, at least, why the two
massive columns of Trajan and of Marcus Aurelius were
spared in these centuries of wholesale destruction. They
brought a respectable income to their respective owners
namely, to the public treasury for the first, and to the
monks of SS. Dionysius and Sylvester for the second.]
An inscription in the vestibule of the present churcl
of S. Silvestro in Capite, dated 1119, states that both
the column of Marcus Aurelius and the little church

i

THE SACK OF 1084 169

of St. Nicholas which stood at the foot of it were leased
to the highest bidder, probably from year to year, on
account of the fees which could be collected from the
tourist or pilgrim that wished to behold the wonders of
Rome from a lofty point of observation.

The obelisks were less fortunate than the commemo-
rative columns just referred to, and the overthrowing
of the obelisk set up by Augustus as a sun-dial in
the Campus Martins is commonly attributed to tlie
Normans. This shaft was undoubtedly erect on its
pedestal in the time of Charlemagne, when the Ein-
siedlen Itinerary was compiled ; but we are not sure
whether, after all, the Normans are to be held re-
sponsible for its destruction. Were we in possession
of precise records of the discovery of the different obe-
lisks, indicating the way in which they lay on their bed
of rubbish, the depth at which the various fragments
were found, the injuries that they had received before,
during, or after the fall, and the nature of the frac-
tures, we should probably be able to tell by what
agency the giants were laid low. But it is certain
that the responsibility of the throwing down of the
monolitlis cannot be fixed upon the early barbarian in-
vaders, because we know that some of the principal
obelisks were still standing in the sixth and seventh
centuries. Nor can earthquakes be considered an ade-
quate cause ; why should the Vatican obelisk have been
the only one to withstand the shocks ? Further, it has

170 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

been proved that the columns of the porticoes of publi(
and private buildings destroyed by the earthquake of
422 all fell in the same direction, toward the north-
east, that is, toward the point of the compass from
which the shock came. The obelisks, on the contrary,
appear to have fallen toward every point on the horizon.

The last statement is corroborated by the evidence
of the first man who investigated the subject, Michele
Mercati.^ He states that the obelisks discovered by his
contemporary, Sixtus V., — the two from the Circus
Maxim us, now in the Piazza del Laterano and the
Piazza del Popolo, and the one from the mausoleum
of Augustus, now in the Piazza dell' Esquilino — had
not been overthrown by accidental causes. They all
retained evidence of the efforts made by man to bring
them down, by drilling holes to insert levers, or by
building fires about the pedestal. He says that every
obelisk which he saw come out of the ground was broken
into three pieces, the upper and middle pieces being
intact, while the lower portion, which rested on the
base, showed the edges rounded off by the violence of
the flames. Such operations require more time and
patience than would have been devoted to such a pur-
pose by the barbarians.

I have three documents to present in relation to this
interesting subject of the fate of the obelisks. One is
an unpublished sketch by Carlo Fontana, showing the

J See p. 152 of his book Degli obelischi cii Jiomci, MDLXXXI^X.

THE SACK OF 1084

171

way the obelisk of the gardens of Sallust lay at the
moment of its discovery. Another is a sketch by
Angelo Maria Bandini, showing the injuries which the
lower portion of the obelisk of the Campus Martius
had suffered before or at the time of its fall ; and
lastly, the record of my own experience in unearthing
the obelisk of the temple of Isis, near the apse of the
church of La Minerva.

Fig. 29. — The obelisk of the gardens of Sallust, as it lay after it had fallen.

The sketch of Carlo Fontana, here reproduced
(Fig. 29), is dated March 21, 1706, and is preserved in
the private library of Queen Victoria at Windsor. ^ It
shows the way in which one of the obelisks decorating
the Egyptian casino of the gardens of Sallust had fallen,
having been broken into two pieces, one double the
length of the other. This division of parts is especially
interesting in the light of Mercati's statement that in

I Volume G 1, sheet 249,

172

DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

their fall the obelisks
would generally break
into three pieces of about
equal length.

The drawing given by
Bandini ^ to illustrate the
condition of the obelisk
in the Campus Martius
is even more significant.
I have reproduced it on
a scale a little less than
one third the size of the
original (Fig. 30).

This drawing shows
how the lower portion of
the monolith had been
eaten away and rounded
off by fire ; we can see
also the holes drilled in
the upper part for the
insertion of levers and
iron clamps, by those who
were endeavouring to has-
ten the fall of the shaft.
But the chief importance

1 De Obelisco Ccesaris Augusti,
e Campi Martii ruderibus nuper
eruto. Romae, MDCCL.

Fig. 30. — The obelisk of the Campus Martius,

THE SACK OF 1084 17B

lies in the fact that from the evidence thus afforded
we are able to determine the approximate date of the
fall itself. The reader will observe that though the
shaft is greatly injured and in part calcined, the ped-
estal is in a remarkable state of preservation. The
meaning of this is clear — the shaft was protruding
above ground and exposed to injury, while the base was
embedded in and protected by the soil and debris which
had accumulated around it. In other words, when the
obelisk of Augustus fell, the level of the Campus
Martins had risen some ten or eleven feet ; it was
about halfway between the classical and the modern
level of the City. We may, therefore, assign the fall
of the monolith to the tenth or the eleventh century.
In a line with this conclusion was the condition of
the obelisk of Rameses the Great, which was brought
to light June 14, 1883, among the ruins of the temple
of Isis.i When this graceful monument was laid on its
side, the pavement of the temple in which it was
standing had already been covered with a thick layer

of rubbish.

1 Bull. Com., 1883, p. 33 sq.

CHAPTER XV

ROME AT THE END OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY-
THE ITINERARY OF BENEDICT

The state of Rome before and after the Norman in-i
vasion could in no way be more clearly indicated thai
by comparing the Einsiedlen Itinerary, of the ninth cen-l
tury, with the Itinerary of Benedict, of the twelfth. This
last document, better known under the name of Ordo
Romanus, forms a part of the Liber politicus written
by Benedict, who was canon of St. Peter's under the
pontificate of Innocent II. (1130-1143). It was dedi-
cated to Guy of Castello, cardinal of St. Mark. Bene-
dict himself became Pope in 1143, under the name of
Caelestinus II. His Ordo, edited by Mabillon, Urlichs,
Jordan, and myself,^ describes seven routes by which
the popes used to cross the city at the head of public
processions on certain days of the year. They are as]
follows : —

1 Mabillon, Museum Italicum, Vol. II. p. 143, nn. 50, 51 ; Urlichs, Co-
dex topographicus urhis Bomae, p. 79 sq. ; Jordan, Topographie der Stadt
Bom in AUertum, Vol, II. p. 664 sq. ; Lanciani, U Itinerario di Ein-
siedlen, p. 87 sq.

174

I

THE ITINERARY OF BENEDICT 175

EOUTB

I. From the church of the Resurrection (now S. Anastasia) to
St. Peter's.

II. From the church of St. Hadrian to S. Maria Maggiore.

III. From the church of S. Maria Maggiore to the Lateran.

IV. From the Lateran to the Vatican, and

V. Back from the Vatican to the Lateran by a different route.

VI. From the Coliseum to St. Peter's.

VII. From the church of S. Maria Nuova (now ■ S. Francesca Ro-
mana) to S. Maria Maggiore.

These seven routes correspond in part with those fol-
lowed by the Einsiedlen Itinerary^ and are specially
important for our study ; a greater number of landmarks
are mentioned than in the Einsiedlen document, and
many changes are clearly seen to have taken place in
the thoroughfares of the City since the ninth century.
We may also observe that, while the Einsiedlen Itiner-
ary is based on a map of the City of the fourth or
fifth century, made at a time when the edifices still
bore their correct and classic names, the Itinerary of
Benedict has a distinctly mediaeval character, and shows
traces of the influence of that widely used mediaeval
guide-book, " The Marvels of Rome " (^Mirahilia Urhis
Romae).^ In fact, Benedict the Canon apparently had
at hand no better source of information for topography,
when describing the pontifical pageants through the
City, than this vade mecum of ignorant pilgrims, which

1 There is an English translation by F. M. Nichols, London. 1889.

176 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

I

had gradually made its way among the official documents
of the Roman curia, as did the Politicus of Benedict and
the liber Censuum of Cencius Camerarius.

It will be instructive to compare the Tenth Route
of the Einsiedlen Itinerary with the First of the Itin-
erary of Benedict ; both conduct the reader over the
same ground, between the Circus Maximus and the
Crypta Balbi. The first mentions the following objects
of interest : —

Ecclesia Graecorum, now the church of S. Maria in Cosmedin.

Scola Graecorum, now Piazza della Bocca della Verita.

Templum Jovis, temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, on the

Capitoline hill.
Elephantus, i.e. Elephantus Herbarius, on the Via della Bocca della

Verita.
Portions, colonnade on the west side of the Via della Bocca della

Veritk.
Theatrum, theatre of Marcellus.
Sanctus Angelus, the colonnade of Octavia.
Portions, the colonnade of Philippus.
Theatrum Pompeii, the theatre of Pompey.

These names, we readily see, all belong to the classi-
cal or Byzantine periods. But the names of the Ordo
are of an altogether different class, and their relation
to the names given in the Mirahilia is at once obvious.
We start from the church of the Anastasis, which has
already been transformed into Sancta Anastasia, and
follow Benedict over the same route. The Porticus
u^que ad Elephantum has become the Porticus Qalla-

I

THE ITINERARY OF BENEDICT 177

torum, now represented by the church and hospital of
S. Galla Patricia ; the temples of Pietas and Hope in
the Forum Holitorium have the name of Cicero and the
Sibi/l ; the theatre of Marcellus is a Basilica Jovis ; the
Porticus Minucia is now the Portieus Crinorum, and
the Crypta Balbi is a Templum Craticulae.

A similar shifting from ancient to mediaeval names
is to be found in every route of the Ordo ; nevertheless
this will always remain a document of the first rank for
our knowledge of monumental Rome in the twelfth cen-
tury. To indicate its value we may take up the part
dealing with the Burgus, or Vatican district, which is
not covered by the Einsiedlen Itinerary/ ; the topographi-
cal outline, accurate as well as clear, is as follows : —

1. Pons, templum, castellum Adriani, now the bridge and castle of

S. Angelo.

2. Porta collina, the gate of St. Peter, in front of the castle,

destroyed by Alexander VI.

3. Obeliscus Neronis, the familiar Terebinth of the Mirahilia, one

of the great mausolea on the border of the Via Triumphalis.
Peter Mallius describes this mausoleum as resembling in
shape and in height the mole of Hadrian. It was demolished
to take advantage of its beautiful marbles for the building of
the steps and of the court of St. Peter's. The name Terebin-
thus seems to be a corruption of tiburtinum, which in the lan-
guage of those days meant an edifice built of stone or marble.
Antonio Filarete has represented the monument, in one of
the panels of the bronze gates, as actually having the shape
of a tree ! ^

1 The name for turpentine-tree in Italian is terebinto.

H

178 DESTEUCTION OF ANCIENT KOME

4. Memoria seu sepulcrum Romuli, Tomb of Romulus.

This " Tomb of Romulus " was a mausoleum of pyramida
shape, so called to foi'm a pair with the so-called Meta Remi,
which we know as the pyramid of Cestius, by the Porta di
S. Paolo. It was also popularly called Meta di Borgo, and is
represented in Antonio Filarete's bronze panel, as well as in
Raphael's fresco of the Vision of Constantine. It stood on the
left of the Via Triumphalis, between the church of S. Maria
Transpontina and the palazzo Giraud-Torlonia in the Piazza
Scossa-Cavalli. Alexander VI. levelled it to the ground to
make room for his Via Alexandrina.

5. Porticus, Porticus Maior, Via Sacra. |

This was a covered way, by means of which the pilgrims
could cross the Borgo under shelter. It started at the Ponte
S. Angelo, and followed the line of the present Borgo Veccliio
to the foot of the steps of St. Peter's. ^j

6. S. Laurentius in Porticu Maiore. ^^^B

The covered way just mentioned was lined with churches
and shrines, such as S. Maria Transpontina de Capite Porticus,
demolished July 13, 1564 ; S. Salvator de Porticu, or de Bor-
donia, now represented by S. Giacomo Scossa-Cavalli ; and the
S. Laurentius of the Ordo, rebuilt in its present shape by the
Cesi d' Acquasparta in 1659. • j

7. S. Maria in Virgari.

This was a church at the end of the covered way, toward
St. Peter's, so called from the corporation of makers and sellers
of pilgrims' staffs, to which it belonged. Pius IV. demolished
it in 1568 to widen the area mentioned under the next head.

8. Cortina Beati Petri.

This was a small square at the foot of the steps of St. Peter's,
ornamented with three fountains, one of which was of por-
phyry; the other two were of white marble.

Interesting as it would be to" follow the worthy canon
through the other parts of the City, the limits of our task

i

THE ITINERARY OF BENEDICT

179

forbid. Mediaeval Rome has now almost reached the
limit of its greater changes. The level of the ancient
City in most places lies ten or twelve feet below the
surface. A large portion of the site of the once proud
metropolis is wholly deserted ; the great monuments,
moss-grown and crnmbling- except where the solidity of

Fig. 31. — A typical Roman house of the twelfth century, built with odd

fragments.

construction was such as to defy Nature herself, are in
part turned to account as habitations, in part exploited
for such building materials as are of use to the scanty
population of degenerate days (Fig. 31), in part left
undisturbed in the midst of the wilderness. .

CHAPTER XVI

MARBLE-CUTTERS AND LIME-BURNERS OF MEDIAEVAL
AND RENAISSANCE ROME

In the exploiting of the Roman monuments for valu-
able materials in mediaeval and early modern times,
two classes of workmen in particular wrought the most
serious damage. These were the Marmorarii, or marble-
cutters, and the Calcararii, or lime-burners. A

The Roman marble-cutters, architects, sculptors, and
mosaic-makers, whose work was in a sense a precursor
of the Renaissance, whose artistic creations still command
our admiration, are generally called the " School of
Cosmatis." The Cosmatis, however, are only a branch
of this great succession of workmen which was founded,
about 1150, by the Sons of Paul, fiUi Pauli. Lawrence,
son of Cosmas, the head of the Cosmati branch, flourished
toward the end of the twelfth century, and was followed
by five generations of artists of the same name. The
Vassalecti form the third branch, which also includes
three or four generations, from 1153 to 1275; the last
branch is that of Ranuccio Romano, with his sons Peter
and Nicholas, his nephew John Guittone, and his grand-
son John, who flourished from 1143 to 1209.

180

MARBLE-CUTTERS AND LIME-BURNERS 181

It is not necessary to repeat here what Promis, Reu-
mont, De Rossi, Frothingham, Richter, Boni, Mazzanti,
and others have written on the origin and progress of
this great school of marble-cutters. For our purposes
it is sufficient to observe that for the space of three
centuries the guild lived and prospered and accomplished
its work at the expense of the ruins of ancient Rome.
The marble-workers made excavations and destroyed old
monuments with two ends in view, to find models and
to secure materials for their work. They were especially
fond of epitaphs — whether pagan or Christian it mat-
tered not — because the thin slabs of marble on which
the epitaphs were inscribed could easily be adapted to
their purpose, being almost ready for use in borders
and panels of mosaic, ambones, and decorative patterns.
This is the reason why the floors of our mediaeval
churches are so rich in epigraphic documents ; about
two hundred inscriptions were used in making the
pavement of SS. Quattro Coronati after the destruction
of the church by the Normans, and nearly a thousand
were similarly turned to use in the floor of St. Paul's
without the Walls.

The marble-workers also inaugurated an interprovincial
and even international traffic in Roman marbles, which
flourished for two and a half centuries, sustained by the
spirit of emulation in building which had seized the cities
of Italy. Each town felt impelled to raise a church,
"grand, beautiful, magnificent, whose just proportions

182 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

in height, breadth, and length should so harmonise withl
the details of the decoration as to make it decorous anc
solemn, and worthy of the worship of Christ in hymi
and canticles," like the duomo of Siena ; and campaniles
which should reach "even to the stars," like that of^__
Spoleto. m

The first influential voice heard in remonstrance against
these practices of the marble-cutters, and the utter aban-^fl
donment of the Roman monuments, is that of Petrarch. ^^
His pungent remarks were addressed especially to the
nobles, whom he describes as following in the path of
destruction, treading in the footsteps of the Goths and
the Vandals. However, if the patricians were to blame, i
the middle and lower classes closely followed their
example. Temples, baths, theatres, and palaces were
demolished piecemeal ; their marble ornaments were
broken to pieces and thrown into the lime-kilns, and
even their walls overthrown and their foundations broken
up for the sake of the stones or of the bricks with which
they were faced. After a time the produce of this indus-
try grew in excess of the demand, and more spoils were
accumulated than could be disposed of in the local market.

Some of the facts connected with this new phase in ij
the history of the destruction of Rome are known to ■
students ; but they have yet to be properly grouped
and compared. I shall here offer only a few observa-
tions, with the hope that they may induce others to
investigate the subject more thoroughly. The archives

MARBLE-CUTTERS AND LIME-BURNERS 183

of our great church buildings have yet to be explored ;
the success achieved by Luigi Fuini in examining the
documents connected with the building of the duomo at
Orvieto leads us to hope that other records may be found,
on both sides of the Alps, by means of which this branch
of trade of mediaeval Rome may be illustrated.

The earliest instance of the removal of marbles from
the Eternal City to distant lands dates from the time
of King Theoderic. In a letter addressed to Festus
the Patrician, Cassiodorius, the king's secretary, orders
that the columns of the Domus Pinciana — an imperial
possession near the gate of the same name — should be
sent to Ravenna.

The portion of the cathedral of Aix-la-Chapelle erected
by Charlemagne in 796-804, and consecrated by Leo III.,
is an octagon copied from S. Vitale at Ravenna, designed
and built by Roman marmorarii. The lofty openings
of the upper story are decorated with a double row of
columns of unequal length, of rare marbles and breccias,
brought from Rome, Treves, and Ravenna.^ In fact,
the desire to follow Roman traditions was so great
that the fountain in front of the cathedral was actually
decorated with a brazen wolf, like the one which then
stood in front of the Lateran, and with a pine cone,
like the one which stood on the fountain of Symmachus,
in the atrium of St. Peter's.

1 The most valuable were stolen by the French invaders in 1794, but
restored at the peace of 1815.

i

184 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

«

The cathedral of Pisa, begun in 1063, and consecrated
in 1118 by Pope Gelasius II., is mostly built of marbles
taken from Rome and Ostia. The workshop in which
the classic remains were transformed into new shapes
by Busketus and Ronald, the architects of the duomo,
has lately been found on the banks of the Arno. Some
of the marbles actually bear the mark of their origin ;
one near the southwest corner of the transept is in-
scribed GENio • COLONIAE • osTiENSis, " To the Genius
of Ostia." They also imported sarcophagi, as that dis-
covered in 1742 at the foot of the high altar, and now
preserved in the Camposanto, inscribed with the name
of Marcus Annius Proculus, a magistrate and leading
citizen of Ostia.

The inexhaustible stores of Rome were resorted to for
the construction of the cathedrals of Lucca (1060-1070)
and of Monte Cassino (1066) ; of those of S. Matteo at
Salerno (1084 ; Fig. 32), and of S. Andrea at Amalfi
(eleventh century) ; of the baptistery of S. Giovanni
in Florence (begun in 1100) ; of the monastery of Nostra
Signora di Tergu, on the north coast of Sardinia, between
Sorso and Castel Sardo, of the church of S. Francesco at
Civita Vecchia, of the cathedral of Orvieto (1321-1360),
and even of some parts of Westminster Abbey. To
prove this statement in the case of some of the buildings
we need no literary evidence ; the shape and quality of
the marbles, and the inscriptions engraved upon them,
giVe unmistakable testimony regarding their origin. Yet

I

4

MARBLE-CUTTERS AND LIME-BURNERS

185

for Monte Cassiiio we do have the authority of Alphanus
and of Leo of Ostia, who expressly state that Desiderius

Fig. 'A2. — The pulpit in the cathedral of S. Matteo at Salerno, built
with marbles from Rome.

purchased in Rome " columns, bases, and capitals, and
marbles of various colours." These spoils were put on

186 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

1

board light coasting ships (tartane) like those that still sail
up the Tiber to the wharf of Ripa Grande, and landed
at the mouth of the Garigliano. From the mouth of the
Garigliano to Monte Cassino the work of transportation
was accomplished with teams of buffaloes. One conse-
quence of the sack of 1084 was the carrying off of
columns and marbles of various kinds by the retiring
army for the adornment of the cathedral at Salerno."

We are indebted to Luigi Fumi for detailed informa-
tion concerning the use of materials from Rome in the
building of the cathedral at Orvieto.^ The first barge-
loads were shipped up the Tiber, from the quay of the
Ripetta to Orte, in June, 1316. For the space of nearly
forty years the maestri delV Opera deV duomo, or " super-
intendents of construction," sent their agents through
the country around Rome in search of blocks of marble
for their carvings. The ruins of Porto (the Portus
Augusti, near the mouth of the Tiber) were attacked
in May, 1321, with the consent of their owners ; those
of Ostia, then probably not subject to individual owner-
ship, shared the same fate in the following year — the
centre of devastation being the theatre, the shattered
remains of which I brought to light in 1881. ^

In process of time the villa of Domitian at Caste!
Gandolfo, the mausoleum of Hadrian, the portico of
Octavia, the temple of Isis and Serapis, and the ruins
of Veil were in like manner put to ransom. The docu-

1 Fumi, II duomo di Ometo ed i suoi restauri, Rome, 1881.

MARBLE-CUTTERS AND LIME-BURNERS 187

ments collected by Fumi give us many details of this
remarkable trade in old marbles. Pandolfo and Giovanni
Savelii, who had placed at the disposal of the builders of
the cathedral the remains of the villa of Domitian, were
remunerated with a gift of pepper, wax, and saffron.
In 1354, while Andrea di Ugolino was superintending
the work, a block of marble purchased for thirty-five
florins was taken from the colonnade of Octavia, and
cut into the beautiful round window which occupies the
centre of the fagade. Other blocks were brought from
the same source in 1359, under the mastership of Andrea
d' Orcagna. When search was made in private grounds
a compensation was paid to the owner, as in the case
of the colonnade of Octavia, and of the temple of Isis,
which belonged respectively to Alessio Matrice and to
Paolo di Converrone. If the blocks were considered
res nulUus, a fee was paid to the City for the license of
exportation.

Giacomo Boni, in a paper read at a meeting of the
British and American Society of Rome, March 28,
1893, makes an interesting statement regarding the use
of Roman materials in Westminster Abbey. "Among
the most important works of a Roman marble-cutter
still preserved in Westminster Abbey," he says, "there
is a small tomb bearing no inscription, but believed to
be of the daughter of Henry III., who died in 1257.
The name of petrvs romanvs civis is engraved in the
basement of the shrine of Edward the Confessor. Peter,

188 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

\

therefore, must have worked on it toward 1269, the
year in which the relics of the Confessor were laid in
the place of honour by Henry III. The tomb of this
king, the second founder of Westminster Abbey, erected
in 1281, has nothing English about it, save the grey
Purbeck marble. The materials of which the Roman-
esque pavement in front of the high altar is composed
were certainly imported from Rome by the Abbot Richard
of Ware. After his election, which took place in 1258,
the abbot paid a visit to the Eternal City, and brought
back, as a souvenir of his pilgrimage, some slabs of
porphyry and serpentine. Upon his grave may be read
the following words : —

HIC PORTAT LAPIDES QVOS HVC PORTAVIT AB VRBE,

that is to say, he lies buried under the red and green
porphyries (the essential element of a Romanesque pave-
ment) which he brought himself from the banks of the
Tiber to those of the Thames."

The attempt of Richard of Ware to transplant to
England a style of work which could only find its
proper means of support among the ruins of an ancient
city, was not successful ; but there is no doubt — al-
though we yet lack material evidence — that the Romans
found new outlets for their trade to compensate for the
loss of the English market.

In presenting this aspect of the destruction of the
Eternal City, I do not wish to cast more blame on the

1

MARBLE-CUTTERS AND LIME-BURNERS 189

mediaeval marble-cutters than they actually deserve.
Much may be said in extenuation of their treatment of
ancient buildings ; and many instances of more wanton
destruction might be cited, from the time of Nero to
our own age. While the army of Vespasian was be-
sieging the Capitol, and trying to scale its walls from
the roofs of the nearest houses, the partisans of Vitellius
hurled bronze and marble statues on their assailants;
and the garrison of Hadrian's mausoleum, as we have
seen, defended themselves in a similar manner during
the siege of the Goths. Self-defence may be urged as
a legitimate excuse ; but I have discovered in the State
archives a petition addressed on August 20, 1822, to
Pope Pius VII. by a building contractor, named Matteo
Lovatti, in which he states that, to provide materials
for a house he was raising in the Piazza del Popolo, he
would like to destroy certain ancient ruins opposite the
church of S. Maria in Dominica. It is astonishing to
think that such a request could have been addressed to
a man like Pope Pius VII., and more so to know that
the request was granted, on the favourable report of
Visconti, Fea, Valadier, and Cardinal Pacca.

In 1870, a few months before Rome became the capital
of Italy, Pope Pius IX. determined to raise a monu-
mental column in memory of the Ecumenical Council.
To save time and money, and the trouble of quarrying
travertine from the territory of Tivoli, one of the most
interesting and best preserved gates of the City, the

190 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT EOME ^

Porta Tiburtina of Honorius, was sacrificed. The stones
of which it was built were sunk in the foundations of
the column, opposite the church of S. Pietro in Montorio
— all to no purpose, because the events of September
20 of that year made the raising of the monument out
of the question. i

We have already seen that Roman legislation at one
time imposed capital punishment on those who destroj'ed
old tombs for the sake of the marble of which they were
built, and that Constans substituted a fine for the death
penalty ; and that these and similar provisions for a
time checked the destruction of the tombs lying close
to the highways, while those less exposed to view, or
standing on private grounds, were ruthlessly sacrificed.^
The destruction did not decrease in the Middle Ages,
and waxed even greater in the Renaissance. Chryso-
loras, the master of Poggio Bracciolini, says, referring
to marbles taken from this source : " The statues lie
broken in fragments, ready for the lime-kiln, or are
made use of as building material. I have seen many
used as mounting-steps, or as curbstones, or as mangers
in stables."

Public officials not only tolerated this search for sculp-
tured marbles and for limestone, but sometimes claimed
a share in the profits. From a document of July 1,
1426, preserved in the Vatican archives,^ we learn that

1 See p. 92. 2 Diversorum, Vol. IX. p. 246.

MARBLE-CUTTERS AND LIME-BURNERS 191

the papal authorities, while giving a free hand to a
company of lime-burners to destroy the Basilica Julia
on the Sacra Via for the sake of the blocks of traver-
tine of which the pillars of the nave and aisles were
built, reserved to themselves half the produce of the
kilns ; a present was afterward made of the income
from this source to Cardinal Giacomo Isolani, who was
then engaged in repairing his titular church of S.
Eustachio. A fate similar to that of the Basilica Julia
fell to the lot of the tomb of Alexander Severus at the
Monte del Grano ; thus perished also half of the Coliseum,
the arch of Lentulus, the Circus Maximus, the square
basement of the mausoleum of Caecilia Metella, and a
hundred other monuments, the spoils of which served to
build St. Peter's, St. Mark's, the Palazzo di Corneto, the
Palazzo Farnese, the Cancelleria, the Villa Giulia. " In
the early years of Paul III." (1534-1550), says De
Marchi, "many torsoes and statues discovered in dig-
ging cellars, in planting gardens and vineyards, and in
opening new streets, used to be thrown into the kilns,
especially those sculptured in Greek marble, on account
of the wonderful lime which they produced. Paul III.
issued most cruel regulations to the effect that no one
should dare thus to destroy ancient statuary under
penalty of death. The result was a steady increase in
the number and value of public and private archaeo-
logical collections in Rome.''^

1 See the article by Miintz in Bevue Archeologique for May-June, 1884,

192 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

n

As a matter of fact, however, these " most cruel regu-
lations " of Paul III. did not produce a lasting effect.
We may suppose that the destruction of the masterpieces
of Greco-Roman art may have diminished for the time
being, but it was by no means suppressed. The spolia-
tion of marble and stone edifices went on with increasing
activity to the end of the sixteenth century. We must
not forget that another edict of the same Pope, dated
July 22, 1540, put at the mercy of the " deputies " of
the Fabbrica di S. Pietro all the monuments of the
Forum and of the Sacra Via ; and they did not hesitate
to profit by the pontifical grant to the fullest possible
extent.

Pirro Ligorio, the architect, discussing the best way
of obtaining a particularly fine plaster, suggests the use
of powdered Parian marble, " obtained from the statues
which are constantly being destroj^ed."^ Flaminio Vacca,
after describing a certain marble boat with figures on
it, found in the Baths of Caracalla, remarks that " as it
once floated on water, so now it has been made to steer
its way through fire." He makes a similar observation
with respect to a statue found by Orazio Muti, opposite
the church of S. Vitale, "which had been sent to the
kiln to have the moisture taken off its back."^ Thou-
sands of inscriptions have perished in the same way.
Fra Giocondo da Verona, adducing testimony from his

1 Ligorio, Codex Bodleianus, p. 17.

2 Flaminio Vacca, Memorie, edited by Fea, n. 23, 116.

MARBLE-CUTTERS AND LiME-BURNERS l93

own experience, says that some Roman citizens boasted
of having had the foundations of their houses and palaces
constructed with ancient statues.

The headquarters of these destroyers of ancient Rome
was at the " Botteghe Oscure," that is, in the wing of
the Circus Flaminius facing the street of that name —
the arcades were then in a good state of preserva-
tion, and high above ground; but, as a matter of fact,
there was no great ruin of marble or stone that did
not have its own kiln. So important was the exercise
of this industry of lime-burning at the Circus Fla-
minius that the whole district received the name of
Lime-pit (calcarario, calcararia). The extent of the
area covered by this designation can be determined by
the site of the churches of S. Nicolaus in Calcaria retro
Cesarinos, now S. Nicola ai Cesarini, SS. Quaranta de
Calcarario, now S. Francesco delle Stimmate, and S.
Lucia de Calcarario, now S. Lucia dei Ginnasi; there
was also a spring named II Calcarario^ in the Piazza
deir Olmo.

Other famous kilns were those of S. Adriano, for the
burning of the marbles of the Imperial Forums; of the
Agosta, fed with the spoils of the mausoleum of Augus-
" tus.; and of La Pigna, supplied with materials from the
Baths of Agrippa and the temple of Isis. Then there
were temporary establishments opened near this or that
edifice, which were abandoned as soon as the supply was
exhausted. We must class among these the kilns by

194 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

a

the Baths of Diocletian, mentioned by Flaminio Vacca ;
those of the villa of Livia at Prima Porta, mentioned
by Pirro Ligorio ; those of the necropolis between the
Via Latina and the Via Appia, seen by Marini ; those
of the Regia, described by Panvinio, and those of the
Basilica Julia, and of the temple of Venus and Rome,
discovered by Nibby and by myself.^

Outside the City the burning of lime was practised
for many years among the ruins of Ostia and Porto.
The oldest record bearing upon the matter, that is
known to me, is a document of Celestine III., dated
March 30, 1191, M'^here mention is made of a " locus qui
vacatur calcaria extra portam non longe ab Hostiensi
eivitateJ'^^ The exercise of this trade continued without
interruption and with the tacit, if not open, approval of
the papal authorities, down to the pontificate of Pius VII.
Fea relates the following incident : " To the insatiable
greed " of Giuseppe Vitelli, tenant of the farm at Ostia
in the year 1816, "is due the disappearance of some
miles of the paving of the ancient Ostian way, which
was in a most excellent state of preservation, as well
as the destruction of many large pieces of carved cor-
nice from the temple of Vulcan, a masterpiece of the
time of Hadrian. . . . He broke the latter into frag-

1 Flaminio Vacca, Memorie, 104 ; Ligorio, Codex Neapolitanus, 29 ;
Marini, Inscriptiones alb. X.; Pauvinio, see C. I. L. Vol. I. p. 415;
Bull, del Inst., 1871, p. 244.

^ Bullarium Vaticanum, Vol. III. p. 75.

MARBLE-CUTTERS AND LIME-BURNERS

195

ments to make lime in a kiln close by ; but I suc-
ceeded in stopping him before the fagots were set on
fire." The fragments thus rescued from the flames are
still shown on the spot (Fig. 33). Other pieces of this
exquisite entablature had been destroyed in 1427, before
the eyes of Poggio Bracciolini and Cosimo de' Medici.
Similar kilns were discovered in 1796 by Robert Fagan,
not far from the temple.

Fig. 33. — Fragments of cornice from the temple of Vulcan, at Ostia,
rescued from a lime-kiln by Fea.

I have myself had no small experience in tracing the
results of the operations of the lime-burners ; in fact,
none of the important excavations ' with which I have
been connected, either in Rome or on neighbouring sites,
has failed to bring to light remains of one or more lime-
kilns. I mention two examples as specially worthy of
note.

A lime-kiln was found in the palace of Tiberius on

196 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

the Palatine hill by Rosa, in 1869. It was filled to the
brim with fine works of art, some calcined, some intact.
Among the latter were the veiled bust of Claudius, now
in the Museo delle Terme ; a head of Nero ; three cary-
atides, in nero antico ; the exquisite little statuette of
an ephebus in black basalt, published by Hauser in the
Mittheilungen for 1895, p. 97-119, pi. 1 ; a head of Har-
pocrates, and other minor fragments.

In February, 1883, in the excavations on the south
side of the Atrium of Vesta, a pile of marble was found
about 14 feet long, 9 feet wide, and 7 feet high. It
was wholly made up of statues of the Vestales maximae^
some unbroken, others in fragments. The statues and
fragments had been carefully packed together, leaving
as few interstices as possible between them, and the
spaces formed by the curves of the bodies were filled in
with chips. There were eight nearly perfect statues, and
we were agreeably surprised to find among the broken
ones the lower part of the lovely seated Vesta with the
footstool, which alas ! is now hardly recognisable, owing
to the number of years it has been left exposed in the
dampest corner of the Atrium. There were present at
this remarkable discovery, which took place at 6.30 A.M.
on February 9, only four people besides the workmen,
— the Crown Prince of Prussia, afterward the Emperor
Frederick II., Dr. Henzen, one of my colleagues, and
myself ; and I distinctly remember how the prince, then
in the full vigour of health and strength, helped the

MARBLE-CUTTERS AND LIME-BURNERS 197

workmen to raise the masses of marble and to set the"
statues up against the wall of the atrium. That was
the golden age of Roman excavation, and we recall it
as if it were a dream ! These beautiful statues had
been piled into a regular oblong, like a cord of wood,
by some diggers of marbles, who had carefully filled
the spaces between the statues as they lay side by side,
in order that no empty spaces might be left. By what
fortunate accident these sculptures were preserved it is
difficult to guess ; but one thing at least is certain —
a great quantity of other marbles belonging to the
House of the Vestals must have perished by fire. Two
kilns and two deposits of lime and of charcoal were
found in the course of the same excavations.^

1 See Notizie degli Scavi, December, 1883, p. 64.

CHAPTER XVII
THE BEGINNINGS OF THE MODERN CITY

In the fourteenth century Rome was still mediaeval;
in the fifteenth it began to be slowly transformed into
a modern city. While the seat of the papacy was
at Avignon (1305-1377), three-quarters of the space
within the walls was put under cultivation. The in-
habitants, stricken with fever and poverty, lived like
their prehistoric ancestors in mud huts with thatched
roofs, and quenched their thirst with the waters of the
Tiber. We are told that in the year 1377, on the
return of Gregory XI. from Avignon, there were only
17,000 people in the entire area. Whether the figure
is exact or not, the men who remained faithful to (heir
native soil deserve the gratitude of mankind. Without
them the site of Rome, completely deserted, might now
have to be pointed out to the inquiring stranger as that
of Veii, of Fidenae, of Ostia, and of Tusculum.

In the abandoned parts of the City a remnant of life
could be found in the churches and fortified monas-
teries of the Caelian, Esquiline, and Aventine hills,
as that of S. Balbina, which retained its mediaeval
character until its " modernisation " in 1884. Vines

198

i

THE BEGINNINGS OF THE MODERN CITY 199

and olive trees grew in the halls of the imperial palace
on the Palatine, and cattle grazed again on the site of
the Forum, as in the days of Evander. Here and there
stood the dismantled ruins of baronial houses destroyed
by the victor of the day ; other quarters — the Campo
Torrecchiano, for instance — were bristling with square
brick towers, loopholed and battlemented, obtrusive
proof of perpetual warfare and bloodshed. The strong-
holds of the Normanni, Papi, Romani, Stefaneschi,
Anicii, and Anguillara dominated the region of Tras-
tevere, while those of the Pierleoni commanded the
entrance to the Ponte di Santa Maria (the ancient
Pons Aemilius, now Ponte Rotto), and those of the
Frangipani the island of S. Bartolomeo (Fig. 34).

The ruins of the amphitheatre of Statilius Taurus
(Monte Giordano), and of Pompey's theatre (Campo di
Fiori), were in the hands of the Orsini. The Savelli
had supplanted the Pierleoni in the possession of the
theatre of Marcellus (Monte Savello). The Colonna
family occupied a fortified enclosure in the abandoned
quarter about Trajan's Forum, with the centre of their
stronghold at the temple of the Sun on the Quirinal
(Villa Colonna), while the mausoleum of Augustus and
the hill of Monte Citorio, strongly garrisoned, were util-
ised by them as detached forts. One of their towers,
at the corner of the Via Tre Cannelli and Via Nazionale,
is still standing; there are also towers of the Mellini
and Sanguigni near the Stadium, of the Sinibaldi and

200

DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

I

Crescenzi near the Pantheon. These ugly square struc-
tures were raised to protect the residences of the barons,
which had not the aspect of a palace, but of a cluster

Fig. 34. — House and tower of the Margani.

THE BEGINNINGS OF THE MODERN CITY 201

of low, narrow dwellings, enclosed by a battlemented
wall. Around them lived the vassals and partisans,
who every night barred with chains the surrounding
lanes. The great fortress of the Frangipani covered
the southern half of the Palatine, the core of the forti-
fication being the Septizonium ; and this family had out-
posts also at the Coliseum, at the Turris Cartularia, at
the Janus Quadrifrons of the Forum Boarium, and at
the arches of Titus and Constantine.

The great Torre de' Conti, erected by Nicholas I.
about 858, and rebuilt by Innocent III. in 1216, was
called by Petrarch Turris toto orhe unica from its pro-
digious height and strength. It commanded the district
of the Carinae and of the Subura. The upper part
having collapsed during the earthquake of 1348, Pope
Urban VIII. pulled down the rest, as far as the top of
the lowest of the three stories. Much better preserved
is the Torre delle Milizie, the construction of which was
popularly attributed to Nero. It was very likely built
by Pandolfo della Suburra in 1210. In the second half
of the same century it became the property of the
Annibaldi, and later passed into the possession of the
Caetani.

The aspect of Rome in those days may be compared
with that of S. Geminiano to-day. In many parts there
were towers crowned with battlements and with iron
brackets for signal fires (Fig. 35). Their number was
so great that a district of the City on the slopes and

202

DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

at the foot of the Oppian hill was actually called the
Campo Torrecchiano. /

All sense of the beautiful, all appreciation of art,

FiQ. 35, — A lane of mediaeval i i . \'ia della Lungarina, demolished

W1877.

4

THE BEGINNINGS OF THE MODERN CITY 203

seems to have been lost for a time among the Romans.
While other cities in Italy were raising churches, town
halls, exchanges, fountains, palaces, and splendid private
houses which command admiration at the present day
on account of the graceful simplicity of their propor-
tions and the finish of their work, the builders at Rome
did little more than pile up and jumble together frag-
ments of older structures, without regard to form or
fitness. Tivoli, Viterbo, and even Corneto, were in this
period far superior to Rome in their public and domestic
architecture. They can point to splendid examples of
the skill and taste of their master masons of the four-
teenth century, while we Romans have absolutely nothing
to show that is comparable. Every trace of the local
influence of the Cosmatesque School seems to have dis-
appeared before the beginning of the fifteenth century.
Wlien, therefore, interest in artistic construction began
to revive, as the handicrafts which form the auxiliaries
of art no longer existed in the City, artisans from other
parts of Italy, especially from Tuscany, Umbria, and the
region of the lakes of Como and Lugano, had to be
summoned to Rome.

The first impulse toward the rebuilding of the City
was given by Eugene IV., who occupied the chair of
St. Peter from 1431 to 1447. A splendid memorial of
Paul II. (1464-1471) is the palace of St. Mark, now
called Palazzo Venezia. Under the pontificates of Paul's
successors, Sixtus IV., Innocent VIII. (1484-1492), and

204 DESTEUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

Alexander VI. (1492-1503), Baceio Pontelli carried to
Rome the artistic traditions of Brunelleschi, and erected
successively the churches of S. Maria del Popolo, S. Pie-
tro in Montorio, S. Agostino, S. Maria della Pace, the
Sistine chapel, the fagades of S. Pietro in Vincoli and
of the SS. Apostoli, the hospital of S. Spirito, the
palace of the Governo Vecchio, and the great court of
the pontifical palace, near the church of S. Maria Mag-
giore, which was recently destroyed. To B ram ante we
owe the beautiful court of S. Damaso in the Vatican,
the Belvedere, the galleries connecting this last with the
pontifical residence, the round temple in the cloisters
of S. Pietro in Montorio, and the palaces of the Riario
(now the Cancelleria) and of Cardinal di Corneto, now
Torlonia-Giraud.

The aspect of the City was considerably changed by
the erection of these buildings. Early in the fifteenth
century the modern spirit, so methodical in all things
and so fond of straight lines, began to manifest itself
in the cutting of spacious streets through the ruins and
rambling habitations of the City. By a bull dated
March 30, 1425, Martin V. reestablished the office of the
commissioners of streets (magistri viarwni). Eugene IV.
straightened and paved several of the lanes in the
Campus Martins ; Nicholas V. the Via di S. Celso (now
Via de' Banchi); and Paul II. paved the Corso between
the Arco di Portogallo near S. Lorenzo in Lucina, and
the Piazza Venezia. Sixtus IV. was named "the great

THE BEGINNINGS OF THE MODERN CITY 205

builder " (jgran fahhricatore)^ on account of the many
improvements made under his rule ; and Alexander VI.
carried the Via Alexandrina through the Borgo.

It cannot be denied that these improvements in the
material aspect and welfare of the City involved great
losses on the archaeological and historical side. With-
out entering into particulars regarding the extent of
the transformation, which will be fully given in my
volumes on the Storia degli Scavi di Roma, it will be
sufficient for our purpose to follow Poggio Bracciolini
in his ride through the City in 1447, the year of the
election of Nicholas V. Beginning with the' Capitol,
Poggio describes the southern platform of the hill,
where the Caffarelli palace now stands, as covered with
the colossal remains of the temple of Jupiter; but a
few decades later columns, capitals, and frieze had dis-
appeared so completely that archaeologists since then
have found serious difficulty in determining which of
the two summits of the hill was occupied by the Capito-
lium and which by the Citadel. Speaking of the temple
of Isis and Serapis, near the church of La Minerva,
Poggio mentions two interesting particulars. He says
that a local gardener in planting a tree had lately dis-
covered a head of one of the colossal river-gods, which,
together with other recumbent figures, once lined the
dromos of the temple, but being annoyed by the curios-
ity of the people, who rushed to see his find, at once
covered it up again. He also speaks of the remains of

^

206 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

a portico with many columns, either lying on the
ground or half buried under the ruins of the temple.
Some of these columns were removed in December,
1451, to the Loggia of the Benediction at St. Peter's,
under the skilful management of the engineer from
Bologna, Maestro Aristotile di Flora vante degli Alberti.

Of the temple of Concord, Poggio says that when he
first visited Rome in 1431 the front portico, facing the'
Forum, was almost intact; but that later the whole]
temple with a part of the portico was destroyed. Simi-
lar instances of wanton destruction are recorded by him
in the case of portions of the Coliseum, as well as of
the remains at Ostia and other suburban places.

The general practice followed by these fifteenth cen-
tury builders, whether popes, cardinals, patricians, or
simple citizens, was this: Before commencing their work
they would secure the possession of a petraia, tliat is,
an ancient structure or part of a structure, from which
they could obtain materials of construction, lime and
ornamental marbles. There is no edifice in Rome dating
from the fifteenth century the erection of which did not
simultaneously carry with it the destruction or the
mutilation of some ancient structure. I add a few
instances.

When Martin V., in July, 1425, undertook the laying]
of the beautiful cosmatesque pavement of St. John^
•Lateran, Antonio Picardi and Nicolao Bellini, contrac-
tors for the work, received the Pope's permission to

THE BEGINNINGS OP THE MODERN CITY 207

strip of their marbles all the churches, "both within
and without the City," in which divine service was no
longer celebrated. Apparently the contractors gave to
the grant a very broad interpretation, and laid hands not
only on abandoned places of worship, but on the very
tomb of the prince of the apostles. In a brief of March
29, 1436, Eugene IV. complains that some precious slabs
of porphyry and serpentine had been wrenched off from
the pontifical chair, which was, as it Avere, "the altar of
the most blessed Peter ! " The same Pope issued a
second brief for the protection of the Coliseum against
the "diggers of marbles"; and yet I find that stones
from the Coliseum were used by him in the restoration
of the apse of St. John Lateran, and marbles from the
Curia and the Forum Julium in the restoration of the
Apostolic palace.

The monuments which suffered the most under the
rule of Nicholas V. are the Coliseum, the Circus Maxi-
mus, the Curia, and the temple of Venus and Rome.
A document of 1452 ^ certifies that one contractor alone,
Giovanni Paglia Lombardo, was allowed to remove from
the Coliseum 2522 cartloads of travertine in the space
of only nine months. The temple of Venus and Rome
was worked as a quarry from 1450 to 1454, the porphyry
columns of both celiac being used as lining for the lime-
kilns on account of their refractory qualities. The same
Pope destroyed the triumphal arch of Gratian, Valen-

1 Published by Mtiiitz in Bevue Archeologique, September, 1876.

208 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

tinian, and Theodosius, by the church of S. Celso in
Banchi, in order to widen the Piazza di Ponte S. Angelo;"^
and he built also the foundations of the two expiatory
chapels at the entrance to the same bridge with statues
and ornamental marbles from the mausoleum of Hadrian.
In 1456 twenty blocks of rare marble were removed from
Ostia to Orvieto and made use of in the decoration of
the fagade of the Duomo.

The building of the Loggia of the Benediction at St.
Peter's, the masterpiece of the time of Pius II., caused
more damage to ancient monuments than a barbaric in-
vasion. Materials were extracted and lime obtained

/ from the Coliseum, the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus,
the Forum Julium, the Senate-house, the bridge of Nero,
the Palatiolum on the hill of S. Spirito, the temple of the
Dea Dia on the Via Campana, the portico of Octavia,
the Baths of Caracalla, the templum Sacrae Urbis
(SS. Cosma e Damiano), the ruins of Ostia, the Mil-
vian bridge, and the massive tombs of the Via Flaminia
near the farmhouses of Valca and Valchetta. The next
Pope, Paul II., built the palace of St. Mark with the
spoils of the temple of Claudius on the Caelian, of the
Coliseum, of a temple near S. Maria in Cosmedin, of
the tombs of the Via Flaminia, of the Septa Julia, and
of an unknown travertine building (the Gaianum?) in
the vineyard of the banker Tommaso Spinelli ; and he

. raised the beautiful Castello at Tivoli with materials
taken from the Amphitheatre. Nevertheless, the genial

THE BEGINNINGS OF THE MODERN CITY 209

Aeneas Silvio Piccolomini issued his famous brief of
April 28, 1462, commencing, " Cum almam nostrum
urbem,^^ in which he threatened heavy penalties and
the pontifical wrath against the destroyers of ancient
remains.

Of Sixtus IV. we have two briefs that are important
for our subject. One is dated December 17, 1471 ;
it authorises "the architects of the Vatican library to
make excavations anywhere in order to secure the stone

-^^

Fig. 36. — The Porta del Popolo of the time of Sixtus IV. From a sketch by
M. Heemskerk (1536).

needed " for the work.^ The other, dated April 7, 1474,
inflicts " the greater excommunication " on those who
remove marbles from " the patriarchal and other churches
and basilicas." The beautiful round temple of Hercules
Victor, the tutelary god of the charioteers of the circus,
which stood near the Ara Maxima and the Forum Bo-
arium, was one of the monuments destroyed under the
rule of this pontiff. The two square towers on either
side of the Porta del Popolo (Fig. 36) were built in the

1 Miintz, Les Arts a la cour des Papes, Vol. III. p. 15.
p

210

DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

same pontificate with marbles from the tombs of Aelius
Gutta Calpurnianus, the famous charioteer (Fig. 37);
of Lucius Nonius Asprenas, consul a.d. 6 ; of Valerius I
Nicias ; of a patrician lady named Postuma, and from
an unknown tomb of pyramidal shape which stood on
the site of the present church of S. Maria de' Miracoli.
Altogether 250 large marble blocks were used in the
building of the two bastions.^ n|

Fig. 37. — Reliefs from the tomb of Calpurnianus, the charioteer. ^^

The list for this century closes with the destruction
of a triumphal arch (called areus novua) near S. Maria
in Via Lata, the materials of which were used by Inno-
cent VIII. in the restoration of this church, and the
removal of the great pyramid of the Borgo — the so-
called Meta Romuli^ — which was accomplished by Alex-
ander VI. in the widening and straightening of the
Via Alexandrina. The same Pope built a round tower
near the gate of the castle of S. Angelo with the mar
frieze and veneering of Hadrian's mausoleum.

1 Visconti in Bull. Com., 1877, p. 185 sq. 2 See p. 178

1|

M

THE BEGINNINGS OF THE MODERN CITY 211

Among the palaces built by private individuals during
this century I shall mention only two, — the palace
of Cardinal Adriano di Corneto, now Torlonia-Giraud,
which was built with the spoils of the Basilica Julia
and of the four-faced temple of Janus; and the Palazzo
della Cancelleria, built by Cardinal Riario with stone
from the Coliseum and with marbles from the triumphal
arch of Gordianus, near the Praetorian camp.

Before passing to the disastrous sack of Rome by the
army of Charles of Bourbon, I must remark that the
first quarter of the sixteenth century showed a decided
improvement in the increasing appreciation of the value
of certain classes of ancient monuments on the part of
such popes as Julius II. and Leo X., and such private
individuals as Raphael and his archaeological advisers,
Fabio Calvo da Ravenna and Andrea Fulvio. Statuary
and inscriptions were especially prized. The finding of
the Laocoon among the ruins of the house of Titus on
the Oppian seems to have struck with amazement the
Pope, the court, the artists, in fact the whole population.
A general search for works of sculpture was afterward
instituted, in the course of which the remains of old
buildings suffered great damage. The science of topog-
raphy was in its infancy, and the importance of pre-
serving ancient buildings was slow to be recognised.

The last years of Alexander VI., who died in 1503,
were marked by the destruction of a portion of the Baths
of Diocletian, of an unknown temple on the Sacra Via,

212 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

1

and of the Forum Transitorium.^ Julius II., his suc-
cessor (1503-1513), was too much absorbed in military
operations to give much attention to the remains of
ancient Rome. However, he took up in earnest the re-
construction of the Constantinian Basilica of St. Peter's.
Since the time of Nicholas V. fears had been entertained
for the safety of the building, and Leon Battista Alberti
and Bernardo Rossellino had been commissioned to pre-
pare plans for its reconstruction. The work was pro-
gressing very slowly when Julius II. gave it a new
impulse, placing it under the direction of Bramante,
who entered upon his duties in 1503.^

Bramante's design was to substitute for the old church,
of a pure basilica type, an edifice in the form of a Greek
cross, with a hexastyle portico in front, and an immense
cupola over the centre supported by four great piers.
Julius II. laid the foundations of the Greek cross in 1506
under the pier now called della Veronica. The four piers
and the arches which spring from them were the only
parts of the structure completed at the time of the Pope's
death. The loss occasioned to art, history, and Christian
antiquities by the destruction of the venerable basilica
is simply incalculable. The west half of the greatest
temple of Christendom was levelled to the ground with
all its precious decorations in mosaic, fresco, sculpture,

^ Jahrbuch fur Kunst unci Wiss., Vol. IV. p. 70.

2 Curiously enough, the old St. Peter's appears in Jenichen's Pano-
ramic View of Rome, engraved more than half a century later
(^Frontispiece).

THE BEGINNINGS OF THE MODERN CITY 213

in marble and in wood, with its historical inscriptions
and its pontifical tombs, among which were those of
Celestine IV. (f 1243), Gregory IX. (f 1241), Boniface
IX. (11404), Innocent VII. (f 1406), Eugene IV.
(11447), and Nicholas V. (11455).

Three other churches also disappeared in the pontificate
of Julius II.: the old titulus Marcelli, which collapsed
on the night of May 23, 1509 ; the church of S. Donatus,
demolished for the opening of the Via Giulia ; and the
church of SS. Celso e Giuliano in Banchi, which was
destroyed to widen the Piazza di Ponte.

No great losses are recorded under the rule of Leo X.,
who, on September 2, 1517, issued a bull, written in
classic language, for the encouragement of those who
might be willing to raise new edifices, "to the end that
the City of Rome might increase in size and in dignity
by reason of additions to its buildings and its popula-
tion." The Via di Ripetta and the Via d' Aracoeli were
opened by the same pontiff. The only act of vandalism
which can be brought home to him is the destruction of
a certain part of the Via Tiburtina, called La Quadrata,
the embankment of which was supported by great walls
of travertine. The stones were removed to St. Peter's.

CllAPTER XVIII

THE SACKING OF ROME BY THE ARMY OF CHARLES
OF BOURBON IN 1527

The sacking of Rome in 1527 was a calamity com-
parable only with the burning of the City by the
Gauls in 390 B.C., and the destruction caused by the
Normans in 1084.

One of the familiar lullabies sung to-day over the
cradles of restless children begins with the words : " Fatti
la ninna, e passa via Barbone ! " Go to sleep, Barbone
is gone," the name Barbone, "the man with the long
beard," having usurped that of the hated conqueror.
So persistent is the memory of those days of terror !

Charles of Bourbon, the remorseless leader of a cruel
army, appeared before the crumbling walls of the Leo-
nine City May 5, 1527, and placed his headquarters in
the convent of S. Onofrio, opposite the gate of S. Spirito
(Fig. 38). Although he himself fell the victim of a
stray shot early on the following day, his forces, com-
prising twenty thousand Germans, fourteen thousand
Italians, and six thousand Spaniards, succeeded in
storming the Borgo while the Pope was seeking shelter
in the castle of S. Angelo. The pillage of the City,

214

SACK OF 1527 217

with unspeakable horrors, lasted eight days, from the
6th to the 14th of May. In so short a time the treas-
ures collected in the Roman palaces, churches, and con-
vents, during the lapse of centuries, were dispersed.

The sacred precincts of St. Peter's fared worse at
the hands of the Catholic Spaniards and Lombards
than they had at the hands of the Saracens in 846.
The Spaniards searched every tomb. They stripped
the corpse of Julius II. of its pontifical vestments ;
they gambled with their booty, and rested themselves
by lying stretched out on the venerable altars; they
used the chalices of marvellous mediaeval workman-
ship as drinking cups, in company with profligate
women ; and they stabled their horses in the aisles
of the sanctuary, preparing their litters with precious
manuscripts collected by Pius II. and Sixtus IV. The
stained glass windows of Guillaume de Marcillat were
broken into bits, and the Flemish tapestries designed
by Raphael were stolen for the sake of their gold
threads.

The fate of these world-famous tapestries is closely
connected with that of the City, and throws light
on the vicissitudes to which relics of antiquity in
Rome have been exposed in these later centuries.
Pope Leo X., thirteen years before these events, had
given Raphael a commission to draw cartoons illustrat-
ing scenes from the New Testament. The cartoons
were copied in tapestry by Bernhard van Orlay and

218 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

I

Michael Coxie, and the priceless fabrics thus produced
were exhibited in the Sistine chapel on certain church
festivals. The tapestries were stolen by the lansquenet
and were carried off with other spoils from the Vati-
can. In 1553, however, they came into the posseS'
sion of Anne de Montmorencj'", who restored them to
their legitimate owner; but some of them were lost
forever.

Even the tapestries that had been preserved to this
time were not to be spared further . vicissitudes. They
experienced perhaps a worse treatment in 1798 at the
hands of the French invaders, when they were sold for-lij
a nominal sum to a Genoese Jew. He burnt one of
them for the sake of the gold and silver threads, of
which Van Orlay had made use in weaving the bright
lights, but the profits did not meet his expectations.
Pius VII. bought the rest back in 1808. During th
siege of Rome in 1849 they were exposed to injury for
the third time from General Oudinot's artillery. Two
cannon-balls entered the gallery where the tapestries
were hung; one fell on the floor, and the other burst
directly in front of the one portraying the Miraculous
Draught of Fishes.

If we recall the vast collections of objects of value
which the piety of the faithful had heaped up in the
sacristies of Roman churches during the preceding
centuries, we can appreciate the losses of the month
of May, 1527. Sacred vessels of small size were packed

It

^4

i

SACK OF 1527 219

in sacks and carried off ; others which could not be
removed were, destroyed, and the most precious relics
were treated with contumely. The busts of St. Peter
and of St. Paul, the head of St. Andrew,^ and that
of John the Presbyter were stolen respectively from
their shrines in the Lateran, in the Vatican, and in
the church of S. Silvestro in Capite. A German
soldier hoisted on the point of his lance the spear
which was believed to be the one with which Longinus
had pierced the side of the Redeemer on the cross ; it
had been presented to Pope Innocent VII. by Bay-
azed II., and was preserved in tlie famous shrine of the
Santa Lancia, a masterpiece of the school of Mino da
Fiesole, destroyed by Paul V. in 1606. The vail, said
to have belonged to St. Veronica, and to bear the
impression of the Saviour's features, was dragged from
tavern to tavern among the jeerings and taunts of the
drunken soldiery, ^ The cross of Constantine, which
hung over the Apostle's tomb in St. Peter's, was tossed
in the mud of the Via di Borgo and trampled under

1 The head of St. Andrew was stolen again in 1848 and hidden in a
recess of the city walls between the Porta Cavalleggeri and the Porta
S. Pancrazio. A marble statue erected by Pius IX. marks the spot
where the relic was re-discovered in 1850.

2 This relic, the first one which the pilgrims sought on their visit ad
limina, was kept in a shrine built by John VII. The shrine was de-
stroyed in 1606, together with its priceless mosaic pictures. The image
of the Virgin alone was saved by Cardinal Pallotta, who made a present
of it to the Ricci of Florence. It is now preserved in the chapel of that
family in the church of S. Marco.

220 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME M

foot. Even the chapel of St. Lawrence in the Lateran
palace, the most august shrine of the Catholic world,
was profaned and stripped of all its contents.

Furniture, pictures, and works of art of every descrip-
tion were destroyed in private houses and palaces;
pearls and precious stones were apportioned among the
German mercenaries by spoonfuls, the share of an ordi-
nary soldier in the booty being from three to four thou-
sand ducats. Exquisite refinements of cruelty were
devised to extort money from persons suspected of hav-
ing concealed it. The old Cardinal Ponzetta, although
a partisan of the Emperor, was held for a ransom of
twenty thousand ducats, and afterward dragged through
the streets of the City with his hands tied behind him ;
he died soon after in great destitution. Another cardi-
nal, Cristoforo Numalio, was torn from the bed where
he was lying ill, placed on a hearse, and dragged in pro-
cession in his ecclesiastical robes. Drunken soldiers
and profligate women surrounded the bier, brandishing
torches and vociferating infamous songs in imitation of
priestly canticles. Thus the unfortunate old man was
carried into the church of the Aracoeli and lowered
into a crypt, to be buried alive unless a fresh ransom
should be paid. Friends came to his rescue at the
last moment.

Still more unhappy was the fate of a priest whose
name ought to be enrolled in the list of heroes. A group
of drunken soldiers had dressed a donkey in sacerdotal

i

SACK OF 1527 221

robes and made it kneel before a street shrine. Having
caught hold of a priest, they tried to force him to ad-
minister the holy communion to the brute. The good
old man, to save the Host from such profanation, swal-
lowed it before they could prevent him, and suffered
from those demons in human flesh one of the most hor-
rible martyrdoms recorded in the history of persecutions.
The loss sustained by the City in those eventful days
has been valued at seven or eight million of ducats by
Scaramuccia Trivulzio, cardinal of Como ; at fifteen by
Ulloa, the biographer of Charles V. ; while Gregorovius,
in estimating this loss, mentions a sura of twenty millions
of florins — nearly a million and a half pounds sterling, or
between seven and eight millions of dollars.

In the light of these barbarities, it is not surprising
to find that Giovio, Cappella, Brantome, and others
assert that many ancient statues, the work of Greek
chisels, were mutilated or destroyed ; that Raphael's
frescoes in the Stanze and those of Pinturicchio in the
Sale Borgia of the Vatican were deliberately injured by
the smoke of bonfires lighted in the middle of the halls ;
that the very tomb of St. Peter, deep under the apse of
the Constantinian Basilica, was broken into, and the
remains of the Apostle scattered to the four winds ;
but these statements, if not altogether incorrect, are at
least exaggerated.

We have quite definite information regarding the num-
ber and the quality of the statues discovered and ex-

222 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

hibited in Roman palaces and villas before 1527. Chief
among them were the recumbent colossal figures of the^
Nile and of the Tiber, found at the time of Leo X. among
the ruins of the temple of Isis ; the Commodus with the
attributes of Hercules (Heracles and Telephos), found
on May 15, 1507, in the Piazza di Campo di Fiori and
removed to the Belvedere gardens by Julius II.; a torso
of Heracles in the possession of the Colonnas ; another —
the torso of the Belvedere — discovered in 1513 under
the Ciampolini house at the Campo di Fiori, and re-
moved to the Vatican by Clement VII.; the Sleeping
Ariadne, whose place of discovery is not known ; the
Belvedere Apollo, found, not at Antium, as is usually
stated, but on a farm of Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere,
near Grotta Ferrata ; and the Laocoon group, found on
January 14, 1506, by Felice de Fredis in his vineyard
on the Oppian hill. There were also the bronze works
of art presented to the Senate and Roman people by
Sixtus IV. and exhibited in the Palazzo dei Conservatori ;
the statue of Marcus Aurelius, now on the Capitoline
hill; the marble horse-tamers, the three Constantines,
and the two river-gods of the Quirinal.

All these marbles and bronzes have come down to us
uninjured except one, the Heracles of the Colonna palace,
which has disappeared; and the frescoes of Raphael, as
well as those of Pinturicchio, are still to be seen. In
examining these last, when the Sale Borgia were reopened
three years ago by order of Leo XIII., I observed German

SACK OF 1527 223

names scratched with a pointed instrument, whether a
sword or knife I could not tell, on the lower surface of
the wall ; but whether they are names of the mercenaries
of Charles V. or of more peaceful visitors of later times
I am unable to say (Fig. 39).

HllPiW

el

i--

^

Fig. 39. — One of the Sale Borgia — that of the "Vita della Madonna" — in
H the Vatican.

Reissner asserts that the right arm of the central figure
of the Laocoon group must have been broken off after
it was discovered ; but it is a fact quite generally known
that the arm was missing at the time of discover^^
The assertion of a letter published some years ago by

224 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

I. Mayerhofer in the Historisches Jahrbuch (1891, p. 751)
that the tomb of St. Peter was violated during the sack
of 1527, has been distinctly contradicted by Grisar.i
The letter was written by Theodoric Vafer (alias Ge-
scheid), and bears the date of June 17, 1527. " The
soldiers," the writer says, "have profaned every church
in Rome, and have slaughtered their victims on the
altars of the apostles; they have broken the coffins, or
urns, containing the relics of St. Peter and St. Paul,
and dispersed the precious dust; they have stolen the
sacred vessels used in the divine service," etc. Professor
Grisar thinks that we ought not to take too literally the
expressions of a man writing under the excitement of
the appalling disaster ; certainly not one of the hundreds
of descriptions by eye-witnesses of the events agrees
with this statement.

Interesting discoveries have from time to time been
made in connexion with this sack of the City.

A diarist of the last century, named Cecconi, relates
that in 1705 a treasure of sixty thousand scudi was
found in the cellars of the Palazzo Verospi on the
Corso, where it had been concealed in 1527. Again,
on the morning of June 1, 1879, an apprentice mason
engaged in repairing the drain of a house at No. 23,
Via della Stelletta, found a shiny piece of metal, and
put it in his pocket waiting for a chance to show it to
a connoisseur. In the meanwhile the dirt from the drain

1 See Le tombe Apostoliche di Boma, Roma, 1892, p. 27, n. 40.

4

SACK OF 1527 225

was carted away in the direction of the Porta Angelica.
The lad was caught in the act of receiving twenty francs
for his piece from a goldsmith opposite. Search was
made at once on the spot, and 142 gold coins were found
in and near the drain. Policemen were sent after the
carts. They overtook these outside the Porta Angelica,
examined the contents, and found forty -two more pieces,
to the great amazement of the drivers, who had no idea
that they were removing gold from such an unexpected
mine. One hundred and eighty-four gold pieces had
therefore been concealed in the drain of the house during
or immediately before the pillage of 1527. The date is
certain : the coins bear the effigy, the coat of arms, and
the legend of Pius II., who died in 1464; of Innocent
VIII., who died in 1492; of Alexander VI., wlio died
in 1503; and of other predecessors of Clement VII.,
under whose pontificate the pillage took place. The
coins of Clement VII. himself amount to one-third of
the whole number. ^

The hiding-place of chief importance is the bed of the
Tiber ; for, rather than allow their treasures to be seized
by the invaders, the Romans threw their valuables into
the arms of Father Tiber, who gathered them in his
muddy treasury, and has preserved them to our day.

1 At the time of the discovery it was asserted that a coin with the
effigy and name of Paul III. had been seen in the treasure-trove, a fact
that, if substantiated, would place the concealment of this gold at a later
period than the sack. I have not been able to see the coin in question.

226 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

When, in 1877, the works connected with the construc-j
tion of the embankments along the river and the widen-
ing and deepening of its bed began, I made it a point]
to ascertain the comparative depth of the various fine
with a view to determining the stratification of the!
objects of every description at the bottom. The task!
was not easy, because more dredgers were kept at work!
and more compressed-air caissons were sunk at the same]
time than one could watch personally, and, in such deli-
cate inquiries, personal observation is necessary.

Comparing the notes taken from 1878 to 1889, I have
come to the following result : that if we leave out of ac-
count the miscellaneous objects which may pertain to any
age and hence are not conclusive, the archaeological strata
of the Tiber correspond with considerable regularity to
the leading catastrophes in the history of Rome. The
objects with which the dredgers first came into contact
recall the revolution of 1848-1849, and bear witness to
the haste with which compromising objects, as republican
symbols and weapons of every kind, were made to disap-
pear as soon as General Oudinot had become the master
of the City. The next important layer seems to corre-
spond with the French invasion of 1798-1799 ; and the
third from the top yields as its harvest innumerable
mementoes of the sack of Charles of Bourbon.

CHAPTER XIX

THE MONUMENTS IN THE LATTER PART OF THE
SIXTEENTH CENTURY

The wretched state of Rome in the latter part of
the sixteenth century is hardly concealed beneath the
superficial brilliancy of the Renaissance. The following
facts, which I have gathered at random from contem-
porary records, cast light upon the condition of things.

In April, 1566, Pius V. directed the cardinals Crispo,
di Montepulciano, and Sforza "to see that the streets
of Rome are promptly cleaned, so that when the heat
of summer comes the air shall not be tainted." Ap-
parently, no attempt to clean the streets had been
made for years. As the country roads were only re-
paired four times each century, in the years of Jubilee,
so the streets were only cleaned on great occasions, as
when a newly elected pope rode in state to the Lateran
to take possession of his chair. To illustrate another
aspect of the administration, I may mention the curious
means adopted by Pius IV. and the City government
to diminish vagrancy. They determined that " the
magistrates at the head of the thirteen wards of the
City, accompanied by thirteen gentlemen chosen by

227

228 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

the Council — one for each region — should go around
their parishes once a month with the almsbox " (July 8,
1562). The feast of the Birth-day of Rome, the glori-
ous Palilia, on the twenty-first of April, was no longer
celebrated, for lack of money, but in 1549 a revival
was proposed on the ground that "some gentlemen
had said that they were willing to contribute from
their private purse" to defray the expenses of the
celebration.

In justice to the City magistrates of this period, we
must acknowledge that, so far as relates to the preser-
vation of the ancient monuments, their behaviour was
very different from that of the popes and of the
Apostolic Chamber. While the papal authorities had
officially sanctioned and encouraged the destruction of
classic remains, particularly by a bull of Paul III.
dated July 22, 1540, the municipal officials never ceased
to raise their voice in favour of their preservation,
and to protest against the shameful deeds of the com-
missioners for the "Fabbrica di S. Pietro." Their
love and reverence for the alma parens was never
crushed by untoward events. This attitude of mind
was so consistent and unvarying that in the many hun-
dred volumes of Records which I have consulted in the
municipal archives, I have found no trace of any oppo-
sition to projects connected with the safeguarding of
the classic remains, or with the increase of the archaeo-
logical collections of the Capitoline Museum. On the

Fig. 40. — Has-reliefs from the arch of Marcus Aurelius, removed from the
church of S- Martina in 1525, now in the Conservatori Palace.

:f

THE MONUMENTS IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 231

contrary, regard for the glories of the past was at
times carried to an extreme, and the City Council now
and then transformed itself, as it were, into an academy
of humanists. Even allowing that this overzealous
devotion to antiquity might justly be criticised, we are
compelled to admire the patriotism of the City officials,
for in the cause of art they forgot all else — present
trials, gloomy prospects for the future, and sometimes,
also, we must confess, the sense of justice ; thus in March,
1525, they took away from the rector of the church
of S. Martina the bas-reliefs from the arch of Marcus
Aurelias,^ now on the landing of the staircase of the
Conservatori Palace, without allowing him any com-
pensation (Fig. 40).

In 1538, after 320 scudi had been laboriously col-
lected from the Cerrini and other defaulters and crimi-
nals in the district of Cori, the City Council voted that
"of the said sum of 320 scudi a portion should be
devoted to the setting up of the equestrian statue of
M. Antonius (sz'c), according to the design of Master
Michael Angelo, sculptor, and another portion to the
building of the substruction walls of the Piazza del
Campidoglio." The equestrian statue referred to is the
bronze Marcus Aurelius which was then set up in the
square of the Capitol, where it has remained ever since.
In the Middle Ages it had stood near the Lateran
(Fig, 42); and its preservation is thought to have been

1 a /. L. VI. 1014.

232 . DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

due to* the belief that it was a statue of Constantine,
the first Christian Emperor.

The interest of the municipal authorities in the pres-
ervation of statuary is illustrated also by the following
incident. When Pius IV., in 1561, urged the Munici- ^
pality to complete in timber the unfinished portion of
the bridge of Santa Maria (now called the Ponte Rotto),
the Council hesitated to accept the suggestion until
■Monsignor Rufino guaranteed " to reimburse the Muni-
cipality in the sum of 2000 scudi if the plan should not
succeed." It happened that the repairs were not sue- }
cessful, and the City commenced proceedings against |
Monsignor Rufino for reimbursement of the money. 4
After paying 640 scudi, he asked the City to accept in '
settlement of the balance due them "two beautiful
statues," to be valued by experts, for the decoration of
the new Capitoline buildings. The proposal was ac-«
cepted, and Mario Frangipani and Tommaso de' Cava-
lieri were appointed appraisers with power to choose a
third appraiser to assist them. The statues are still
to be seen, on either side of the vestibule of the Con-
servatori Palace. They are colossal in size, both
found, according to a somewhat doubtful tradition,
in the Forum Julium. The one on the right represents
Julius Caesar; that on the left, a victorious Roman
admiral. ^|

In December, 1584, the restoration of the colossal
statues of Castor and Pollux came to a standstill on

J

THE MONUMENTS IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTUKY 233

account of the lack of funds. In order to provide the
means to complete the work the Council farmed out the
office of public notary for two of the wards of the City,

Fig. 41. — The statues of Castor and Pollux on the Capitoline hill, restored in

1584.

the Rione di Ripa and the Curia Capitolina, and the
statues were set in the places which they now occupy
(Fig. 41).

In 1576, in spite of the emptying of the treasury to

234 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

defray the expenses of the Jubilee of 1575, the City-
fathers voted a large sum, for those days, to bring the
dispute regarding the possession of the Lex Regia to a
satisfactory conclusion. This famous document is a
copy, engraved in bronze, of the decree by which the
" Senate and the Roman people " conferred the imperial
power on Vespasian. The tablet had been used by
Boniface VIII. in the construction of an altar in
St. John Lateran, and set so awkwardly that it could
hardly be read. Cola di Rienzi, in 1346, caused it to
be taken from its hiding-place and set up in the nave,
where, showing it to his fellow-citizens, he was wont to
speak fiery words on the right of the people to choose
their own form of government. The efforts of the
municipality to secure the valuable document had always
failed, owing to the opposition of the Canons of the
Lateran. Compelled at last by a decree of the Pope to
take some action, the Canons voted to commit the pre-
cious tablet to the guardian care of " the Roman people,"
and as they begged that they might receive something
in return, the Council, out of gratitude, gave them 200
gold scudi on condition that they purchase a silver ewer
and basin and a pair of candelabra for use in the basilica.
The 200 scudi were secured by pawning certain objec
of value belonging to the City.

In the minutes of the City Council for May 17, 1580,
I find the following statement : " It is clearly seen that
the antiquities of Rome are disappearing every day, on

\

f

THE MONUMENTS IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTUKY 235

account of the search for marbles, which is carried on
in the most reckless manner, with no regard to the
preservation of the ruins themselves. We have a
recent instance of this in the Palazzo Maggiore (the
palace of the Caesars) where the most beautiful halls
have been undermined so as to require new founda-
tions and buttresses to be kept standing." A deputa-
tion was sent to Pope Gregory XIII., instructed to ask
him to revoke all grants given by the Apostolic Cham-
ber "for the procuring of marble and travertine from
the ancient ruins of the City, even for the Fabbrica
di S. Pietro and the church of the Prince of the
Apostles." The result of this interview may be inferred
from the fact that by another apostolic brief the destruc-
tive powers of the Fabbrica di S. Pietro were extended
to the ruins of Ostia and Porto.

In the Autobiography of Cardinal Giovanni Antonio
Santori, edited by Professor Cugnoni,i a characteristic
instance is given of the way that Sixtus V. dealt with
ancient monuments. " Seeing that the Pope was quite
bent on the destruction of the antiquities of Rome," says
the Cardinal, "many Roman noblemen came to beg me
to try to persuade his Holiness to abandon his strange
purpose, particularly as he cherished the intention of
destroying the Septizonium (as he afterward did), the
Velabrum (that is, the four-faced arch of the Forum

1 See Vol. XII. p. 372, and Vol. XIII. p. 151, of the Archivio della
Societa reale di Storia patria.

236 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

Boarium), and the Capo di Bove," which we know as
the tomb of Caecilia Metella, that rare and splendid
monument of the Republic. " I made this request in
company with Cardinal Colonna, and received the reply
that he wished to remove the unsightly ruins in order
to repair those that required it." And indeed, in May,
1589, Giovanni Battista Mottino and Girolamo Leni and
his brothers had no difficulty in obtaining permission
from Cardinal di Montalto, the Pope's Camarlingo, to pull
down the mausoleum of Caecilia Metella. The rescript,
however, contained a provision : " Our Sovereign Lord
and Master grants the concession, provided that the
Roman people are content." This clause saved the
monument, as I will show ; but I think it worth while
to give here the exact words of the request made tc
the Pope, so characteristic is it of the spirit of the
age : — ]|

"Gio. Battista Mottino, and Girolamo Leni and hif
brothers, are the owners of the farm-lands of Capo di
Bove, where there is a tomb, or tower, which it would
be very advantageous to them to dismantle. They
therefore humbly pray your Holiness that they may
be granted permission in such a way that the gentle-
men of the City Council (Signori Conservatori) cannot
oppose it by saying it is an antiquity, which thej
ought not to say, as it is out of Rome and not in s
public place, and others have been dismantled, one or
the road to Tivoli, another of marble at Ponte dell

THE MONUMENTS IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 237 )

Arco, yet another at Casal Rotonno, and many others.^
If your Holiness will make this concession we think
that the Roman people (popolo Romano) will do
likewise to please him, and thus all we receive will
be by the special favour of our Master, and we
will unceasingly pray God for his preservation, and
that a long and happy life be granted to your
Excellency."

The "popolo Romano," on whom Cardinal di Mont-
alto had sought to lay the responsibility, at first hesi-
tated, and the work of demolition began, but so
numerous and serious were the remonstrances that, on
the motion of Paolo Lancellotti, seconded by his col-
leagues, Ottavio Gabrielli, and Alessandro Gottifredi,
the Municipal Council cancelled the permission, and so
the tomb of Metella was saved. This occurrence, and
others of the same nature, possibly account for the
i change of feeling among the people toward Sixtus V.
Those same magistrates who had ordered the erection
of a statue to him, November 26, 1585, to commemo-
rate the return of peace and plenty, thus announce
the death of the Pope to the Council on Monday,
August 24, 1590 : " To-day, our most Holy Lord, Pope , '^

1 1 cannot quite make out which tomb on Via Tiburtina is alluded to
in this petition of Mottino and his friends ; "perhaps it is tliat described in
Cod. Vat. 3439, f. 35. The antiquita al ponte delV Arco is the tomb of
M. Antonius Antius Lupus, about which see Bull. Com., 1891, p. 221.
The mausoleum of Aurelius Cotta still bears the characteristic name
given it in the memorial (Casal Rotondo).

I

238 DESTEUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

Sixtus v., has departed this life, amidst the rejoicings
and mutual congratulations of all classes of citizens. "^

But Sixtus V. was great in everything, in his friend-
ship and in his enmity, in his modesty and in his
magnificence, in the benefits he conferred on the Eter-
nal City, and in the contempt he professed toward
the classic ruins. It would, perhaps, be more correct
to say toward some classic ruins, for we cannot forget
that, in spite of so many acts of destruction, we owe
to him the restoration of the columns of Trajan and
of Marcus Aurelius, and of the Horse-tamers of the
Quirinal, the discovery and reerection of three obelisks,
the removal of the Vatican obelisk to a more suitable
place, and the renovation of the whole City.

The demolition of the Septizonium of Septimius
Severus took place in the winter of 1588-1589, under
the direction of the Pope's favourite architect, Do-
menico Fontana. Some 905 scudi were expended in
the work, but the valuable materials recovered, blocks
of peperino and travertine, and columns of rare
marbles, more than offset the expenditure. It is in-
teresting to see what became of the spoils of this
famous building, the loss of which archaeologists have
regretted more than of almost any other in Rome.

" Thirty-three blocks of stone," I have stated else-
where, "were used in the foundation of the pedestal of

^ Hodie sanctissimus dominus noster, Syxtiis papa quintus, omnibus
congratulantibus et maxima omnium laetitia, diem suum clausit extremum.

THE MONUMENTS IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 239

the obelisk in the Piazza del Popolo; 104 of marble in
the restoration of the column of Marcus Aurelius, in-
cluding the base of the bronze statue of St. Paul ; 15
in the tomb of the Pope in the Cappella del Presepio,
at S. Maria Maggiore, and an equal number in that of
Pius V. The staircase of the Casa dei Mendicanti, or
workhouse, by the Ponte Sisto, and that of the Trinita
de' Monti, the wash-house Qavatore) in the Baths of
Diocletian, the door of the Palazzo della Cancelleria;
the north fagade of St. John Lateran, the court and
staircases of the adjoining palace, the fountain of the
Moses on the Quirinal, and lastly, the church of
S. Girolamo degli Schiavoni, all had their share of the
spoils of the Septizonium.''^

The Baths of Diocletian were not more mercifully
treated ; Gualtieri, one of the Pope's admirers, sings
the praises of the destruction of a portion of them
(February 12, 1588). "We had," he says, "this large
tract of land," the present Piazza di Termini, "which
was of no use because uneven and covered with the
ruins of the baths"; but now, thanks to Sixtus V.,
"it has been cleared and levelled up." Not less than
2,660,000 cubic feet of masonry were broken up in the
Icourse of the work. The figures can be verified in
rthe pontifical Books of Account, from which we learn
that the destruction lasted from May 16, 1586, to May
15 of the following year. The materials were carted

1 Buins and Excavations, p. 183.

240 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME ,

away and put to use in raising the level of the Vicus
Patricius (Via del Bambino Gesu), of the Vicus Portae
Viminalis (Via Strozzi), and other adjacent streets.

Next in importance come the damages inflicted in
the time of Sixtus V. upon the Claudian aqueduct, the
arches of which, seven miles long, reached in places
the height of one hundred and twenty feet above the
level of the Campagna. Many of them were demol-
ished that the materials might be used in the construc-
tion of the new Felice Aqueduct, which received its
name from that of the Pope, Felice Peretti. As we
have seen, the Claudian, the Marcian, the Alexandrine,
and other aqueducts, had suffered little at the hands
of the barbarians, who merely attempted to create a
water famine in the besieged city by removing a few
stones from the channels. The Marcian and Claudian
aqueducts at any rate were practically intact till near
the end of the sixteenth century. Upon Matteo da
Castello and Domenico Fontana, the architects of
Sixtus v., and upon the trustees of the hospital of S.
Giovanni, rests the main part of the responsibility for
their disappearance. Whenever the hospital was in
need of money or building materials, a certain number
of arches were sold by public auction, and demolished
by the purchaser. I have found several grants in the
archives of this charitable institution, conveying the right
to destroy one, two, and even four, pilasters at one time.^

1 See p. 85 and Fig. 20.

THE MONUMENTS IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 24l

Some of the ruins, which* are now the pride of the
City, escaped destruction by a hair's breadth under the
rule of this energetic Pope. One, as I have already inti-
mated, is the so-called Janus Quadrifrons of the Forum
Boarium. In a letter addressed to his architect, Fon-
tana, dated January 4, 1588, Sixtus says: "I give you
permission to destroy that ancient arch by S. Giorgio
in Velabro, that you may use its marbles for the
pedestal of the obelisk which 1 have resolved to erect
in the Piazza del Laterano, and also for the coat of
arms and the inscription which belong to the same
pedestal. I grant you also the three columns of porta-
santa which support the portico of a canon's residence,
near the Loggia of the Benediction, and the pieces of a
fourth, which are lying there on the ground. These
you are to use for the ciborium of our chapel in
S. Maria Maggiore."

Fontana did not avail himself fully of the permission,
being perhaps afraid to engage in acts, the vandalism of
which was too obvious ; and he took the precaution to
provide himself with a safe-conduct from the Pope, which
he could use in case the " Roman People " should arrest
him. In another letter, dated February 5, 1589, the
Pope says : " You are authorised to excavate, seize,
and remove from any place you think it expedient,
columns, marbles, travertine, and any other material
necessary for the building and ornamentation of the
chapel, which our sister, Donna Camilla, is adding to

B

242 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT EOME

the church of S. Susanna. We give these materials as
a present to her, and it is our will that no one shall
interfere with you in the execution of our commands."

The aim which Sixtus had in view may be urged in
extenuation of his treatment of the ancient monuments.
We should not forget that while destroying with one
hand ruins which, to his mind, had no value, he was
with the other raising structures which to this day com-
mand the admiration of the world. We may freely
concede that the loss of portions of the ancient aque-
ducts, for example, is fully compensated by the con-
struction of the Acqua Felice, by means of which the
higher parts of the Esquiline, Quirinal, and Pincian
hills, almost entirely abandoned for eleven centuries on
account of the dearth of water, were again made habi-
table.

There is, however, one act of vandalism that we
can never forgive, — the destruction of the old Patri-
archium, or pontifical residence at the Lateran, with
its historic halls, chapels, oratories, banqueting rooms,
loggias, colonnades, mosaic pictures, and inscriptions.
It was the most wonderful museum of mediaeval art
that ever existed. No one can read the accounts of
Pompeo Ugonio and of Giacomo Grimaldi, without pro-
found regret that so much of priceless value has been
lost. The oratories of the Virgin Mary, dating from
the time of Nicholas I. (858-867), of St. Sylvester and
St. Sebastian, dating from the time of Theodore I. (642-

it

THE MONUMENTS IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 243

649), the church and monastery of St. Pancras, the
shrines of S. Caesarius, of Michael the Archangel, of
S. Apollinaris, dating from the time of Hadrian I. (772-
795), the Leonine triclinium, the Loggia of the Benedic-
tion, built by Boniface VIII. (1300), the Council hall, —

I Fig. 42. — View of the Lateraii buildings before their destruction by Sixtus V.
In the foreground (6) , the bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius. From a sketch
by Ciampini.

all were razed to the ground in a few months. The
loss most lamented, not only by cultivated men of the
day but also by the populace, was that of the Oratory
of the Holy Cross (Oratorium Sanctae Crucis), the
shape and location of which are shown in the sketch
by Ciampini (Fig. 42).

This Oratory was in the form of a Greek cross, with
a small atrium in front, surrounded on three sides by

244 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

columns and presenting the type of a classic nymphaeuni:
There were three fountains of rare marble, one occupyin
the centre of the vestibule, the others at the sides, eacfh
with water trickling down into it from the capital of
a column. The three doors were cast in bronze and
inlaid with silver. Three of the four arms of the cross
contained altars, while in the fourth stood the baptismal
font. Exquisite mosaics adorned the ceiling, and the
walls were covered with the finest marble veneering, of
the sort called opus sectile. The destruction of this gem
of early Christian architecture is recorded by Ugonio i
the following words : " This most splendid oratory was
torn down amid the groans of the City, and its destruc-
tion has left a sense of loss in the hearts of all."

IS I

The closing years of the sixteenth century fall in the
pontificate of Pope Clement VII I., Aldobrandini (1592-
1605). He undertook, in 1597, the renovation of the
transept of St. John Lateran, which was called, after
him, the Nave Clementina. He also raised the magnifi-
cent Altar of the Sacrament at the south end of the
same transept. The names of Pietro Paolo Olivieri,
architect ; of Cav. di Arpino and Cristoforo dalle Po-
marancie, painters ; of Antonio Valsoldo, Francesco
Landini, and Silla Longhi, sculptors ; of Curzio Vanni,
goldsmith ; of Orazio Censori, founder ; and of Giulio
Lanciani, goldbeater, are associated with this important
work. But what a destruction of old marbles anc

THE MONUMENTS IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 245

bronzes the completion of it involved ! It is clear from
the account-book of the clerk of the works, Giovanni
Vaccarone, that for three consecutive years Rome, the
suburbs, and even parts of Etruria were ransacked to
secure materials. Damages were caused not so much
by the small private speculators who provided, one
a column, another a bit of frieze, or a tombstone, or
plain blocks of marble, as by the contractors armed
with the Pope's official permission to carry off or pull
to pieces any antique monument that would suit their
purpose.

Among those mentioned as having provided mate-
rials— those who destroyed old monuments on their
own account — are Muzio del Bufalo ; Flaminio Vacca,
who sold the marbles of the arch of Claudius in the
Piazza di Sciarra ; the nuns of S. Silvestro, who furnished
marbles from the temple of Mithras at S. Giovannino
(Via della Mercede) ; Loreto Facciolo, who thus dis-
posed of the remains of the temple of Venus in Calca-
rario ; the canons of the Pantheon, who sold the marbles
from the Baths of Agrippa; the monks of La Minerva,
who apparently furnished marbles from the temple of
Isis ; the nuns of S. Marta, who sold the remains of the
Arco di Camigliano ; and the Duchess Savelli, who sold
I know not what splendid remains. The monks of SS.
Apostoli contributed a column of porphyry and a block
of giallo antico ; the nuns of S. Lorenzo in Panisperna,
many blocks of travertine from some ruins which occu-

246 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

pied the slope of the Viminal, in the neighbourhood of
S. Pudenziana ; the priests of S. Agnese, in the Piazza
Navona, furnished stone and marble from the Alexan-
drine Stadium; and there were a hundred others that
I cannot take the space to mention.

Meanwhile the papal board of works on its own ac-
count undertook excavations and the demolition of ruins,
granting two-thirds of the proceeds to those who did
the work. Under these conditions Alessandro Senzolino
carried on systematic operations in the Forum and at La
Marmorata; Petruccio Bettania, at Ostia; Gioacchino
Borrella, at Ponte Salario ; Ottaviano da Gubbio, at
the Torre Pignattara and S. Maria Nuova, that is, the
mausoleum of the Empress Helena and the temple of
Venus and Rome. They took columns wherever they
could find them, not only from sacred edifices, like the
old Lateran, S. Croce in Gerusalemme, and S. Pudenziana,
but even from the street corners. On April 25, 1599,
a Pietro Savia, a mason, sold "the shaft of a column of
giallo taken from the corner of a house near S. Apol-
linare." On the same day a certain Ippolito conveyed a
similar shaft "removed from the corner of his vineyard
at the Sette Sale," and on May 2, Simon the apothecary
sold a piece of portasanta, which had served as a curb-
stone at the entrance to the Ponte Sisto.

The worst deeds of destruction at this time, however,
must be brought home to Orazio Censori, the builder of j
the Altar of the Sacrament. This masterpiece is orna-

i

i

THE MONUMENTS IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 247

merited with four large bronze-gilt columns, which sup-
port a pediment of the same metal. The guide-books
relate fantastic stories as to the origin of these four
columns. One account assigns them to the temple of
Jupiter Optimus Maxim us; according to another, the
Emperor Vespasian brought them from Judaea; and a
third version says that they were cast by Augustus from
the beaks of the ships captured at the battle of Actium.
It is probably true that the columns, or at least two of
them, were placed in the Lateran by Constantine, to
serve as light-bearers (Pharo-cantharoi) on each side of
the high altar.

As the necessary metal was lacking to adapt the
columns to the design of the new altar, and to crown
them with capitals and a pediment, Censori made a tour
in Etruria, in the district of Tarquinii and Falerii. He
brought back to Rome hundreds upon hundreds of
pounds of works of art in bronze, collected from the
tombs of Corneto and Civita Castellana, which were all
melted up in the furnace, together with pieces of the
bronze beams of the Pantheon. An entry dated July,
1599, records the payment of 5089.55 scudi to Censori
"for mending a broken bronze column; for the manu-
facture of three new capitals with foliage, flowers,
rosettes, and ovules ; for the decorations of the entire
cornice, consisting of 16 doves, 16 stars, and 2 large
angels; and for the expenses of his journey to Corneto
and Civita Castellana, to bring metal to Rome." The

248

DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

commune of Corneto received 59.85 scudi for 665
pounds of bronze ; I have not found the account rela-
tive to Civita Castellana.

In opposition to this shameful behaviour of the
Apostolic chamber, the City Council never granted

Fig, 43.— The Loggia of Pietro Squarcialupi, Palazzo del Senatore.

permission to use materials from ancient stractures
without restrictions designed to protect the structures
themselves. On September, 1520, Pietro Squarcialupi,
Senator, wishing to complete the Loggia in front of the
Palazzo del Senatore on the Capitol (Fig. 43), asked
permission to obtain stones from the neighbourhood of
the triumphal arch of Septimius Severus. The decree
of the Council granting the authorisation is a model of

f

II
I

k

THE MONUMENTS IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 251

prudence. The Senator must excavate on his own v/
responsibility and at his own expense; and when the
excavation has reached the desired depth he must
notify the magistrate, who, with a committee of ten
citizens, "shall visit the place, and satisfy himself that
no harm is done to the standing remains of the arch,
or of other monuments in the Forum."

A similar instance may be quoted from the Records
of the latter half of the century. On October 15, 1574,
the City Council, pressed by Pope Gregory XIII. to
restore the Ponte Rotto (the Pons Aemilius of classic
times. Fig. 44), three arches of which had been car-
ried away by the inundation of September 27, 1557,
accepted the suggestion of Giovanni Battista Cecchini,
the chairman of the Council, to make use of blocks of
travertine from the Coliseum for the work. The decree
of the Council, however, was worded with the greatest
care : " It is agreed that the marbles and stones re-
quired for the work shall be excavated and removed
from the belt of ruins around the amphitheatre, com-
monly called il Coliseo, provided that the said marbles
and stones are found loose, and in no way attached to
any standing part of the monument. The search can
be extended to other sites belonging to the S. P. Q. R.,i
provided no harm is done to standing ruins — Matteo
da Castello, our architect, to carry out the instructions

1 Senatus Populusque Bomanus, "The Senate and People of Rome,"
an official designation of the government of the modem as well as of the
ancient city.

252 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

I

of the Council ; all statues, or movable antiquities, which
may eventually come to light, shall be the property of
the S. P. Q. R." i

In this connexion it is worth while to remark that
the founders of the science of epigraphy, Metello,
Smetius, Pighius, Ligorio, Panvinio, Fulvio Ursino,
and Cittadini, aimed simply to copy the greatest pos-
sible number of inscriptions, and to investigate and
expound their meaning ; they concerned themselves
not at all with such matters as the place in which
an inscription was discovered, or its subsequent fate.
They did not seem to think it important to notice
whether a block containing an inscription had been
found in situ, or loose in a mass of rubbish, whether in
the Forum or in the Campus Martins. Once an
inscription was copied and made known, it was a
matter of indifference to them whether the original
stone was removed to the Farnese, Cesi, or Carpi
museums, or burnt into lime, or sawed into slabs to
pave the floor of St. Peter's. A full recognition of
the importance of recording the minutest details in all
branches of study having to do with antiquity has
come only with the development of scientific method
in our own days.

i

CHAPTER XX

THE MODERNISATION OF MEDIAEVAL BUILDINGS IN
THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES

The systematic demolition of the remains of ancient
Rome ends with the sixteenth century, but the next
period, which extends from the beginning of the
seventeenth to the end of the eighteenth century, adds
another chapter to the record of loss and disappearance
— the destruction of mediaeval buildings. Under the
pretext of restoration and embellishment, popes, car-
dijials, patricians, and heads of monastic orders, laid
their hands upon the most noted and the most vener-
able churches, which had, until then, preserved their
beautiful basilica type in all its simplicity and majesty.
Paul v., as we have seen, inaugurated the movement
by pulling down the east half of the old basilica of
St. Peter's, 1606-1615. The seventeenth century wit-
nessed, also, other modernisations ; the twin churches
of St. Hadrian and S. Martina were disfigured by Piero
da Cortona, under Urban VIII., and by Alfonzo Soto-
mayor and Borromini, under Alexander VII. In 1651,
Onorio Longhi destroyed the church of S. Ambrogio
with its marvellous frescoes by Pierino del Vaga, to

253

254 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

build in its place the tasteless structure of S. Carlo
al Corso.

In the eighteenth century the list is rapidly ex-
tended. The old church of S. Alessio was modernised
by Tommaso de Marchis in 1750, the church of
S. Anastasia, in 1722, by Carlo Gimach. The disfig-
urement of S. ApoUinare was due to Ferdinando
Fuga, of SS. Apostoli to Francesco Fontana, and of
SS. Cosma e Damiano to Arrigucci. The basilica of
S. Croce in Gerusalemme was profaned and reduced
to its present form in 1744 by Passalacqua and Greg-
orini, a restoration classed by Milizia among the works
of "nefarious" architects. The same title of dishonour
was given by Fea to Paolo Posi, who, under Bene-
dict XIV., profaned the attic of the Pantheon, substi-
tuting chiaroscuro daubs for the exquisite marble in-
crustations of the time of Septimius Severus. The
epithet "nefarious," might most appropriately be ap-
plied also to Borromini on account of the disfigurement
of the Lateran, to Antonio Canevari for that of
SS. Giovanni e Paolo, to Francesco Ferrari for that of
S. Gregorio on the Caelian, and so on to wearisome
length ; for the restoration of churches became a general
practice, and was carried out in accordance with a uni-
form plan.

This plan may be easily outlined. "The columns of
the nave were walled up, and concealed in thick pilas-
ters of whitewashed masonry ; the inscribed, or sculp-

i

MODERNISATION OF MEDIAEVAL BUILDINGS 255

tured marble slabs, and the cosraatesque pavements,
were taken up and replaced by brick floors ; the win-
dows were enlarged out of all proportion, that floods
of light might enter and illuminate every remote, peace-
ful recess of the sacred edifice. For the beautiful roofs
made of cedar wood, vaults or lacunaria were substi-
tuted. The simple but precious frescoes of the four-
teenth century were whitewashed, and the fresh surface
was covered with the insignificant productions of Fran-
cesco Cozza, Gerolamo Troppa, Giacinto Brandi, and
other painters equally obscure." ^ But the most sur-
prising fact is that all these profanations could be
accomplished, not only without opposition, but amid
general applause; such was the perverted taste of the
time.

In this period, however, we are called upon to chroni-
cle only a few instances of the destruction of classical
monuments. Paul V., in 1610, demolished the Baths of
Constantino and four churches to make room for the
palace of his kinsman, Scipione Borghese, now the Ros-
pigliosi palace. He also levelled to the ground the
beautiful remains of the temple of Minerva in the
Forum Transitorium (1606) ; the columns and frieze
were cut into slabs and utilised for the decoration of
the Borghese Chapel in S. Maria Maggiore, and of the
fountain of the Acqua Paola on the Janiculum. The
blocks of stone belonging to the cella of the temple

1 Ancient Borne, p. xix.

256 DESTRUCTION OP ANCIENT ROME

and to the enclosing wall of the Forum were given to
the monks of S. Adriano.

In 1632 Urban VIII. damaged the Templum Sacrae
Urbis and the Heroon Romuli, which are united in
the church of SS. Cosma e Damiano. He raised the
level of both buildings twenty-four feet, and sold or
presented stones from them to the Jesuits for their
church of S. Ignazio. The bronze doors were wrenched
from their fastenings and reset out of place ; the
historic inscriptions were obliterated, and the beautiful
veneering of marble in opus sectile was destroyed.
Urban is_ responsible also for the destruction of the
Secretarium Senatus (S. Martina), of some portions
of the mausoleum of Hadrian, of the old churches of
S. Vibiana, S. Anastasia, S. Maria in Pallara, and
S. Salvatore in Campo, and lastly of the bronze roof
which covered the portico of the Pantheon. The weight
of the metal removed to the apostolic foundry from the
Pantheon was 450,251 pounds.

The last incident we have to mention in this con-
nexion is the demolition of the triumphal arch which
stood at the corner of the Corso (Via Flaminia) and
the Via in Lucina (Ara Pacis), accomplished by Pope
Alexander VII. in 1662. Two of the bas-reliefs were
removed to the Capitoline Museum ; a third was given
to Maria Peretti Savelli. Two columns of verde antico
were bought by the Pamphili and placed on either side «
of their altar at S. Agnese in the Piazza Navona ; two

i

MODERNISATION OF MEDIAEVAL BUILDINGS 257

others found a resting-place in the Corsini Chapel at
the Lateran. The key of the arch is to be found in
the vestibule of the University of Rome, and the group
of the three dancing Hours, discovered in 1740 at the
foot of the arch, has been removed to the Galleria delle
Statue in the Vatican Museum.

CHAPTER XXI

MODERN USE OF ANCIENT MARBLES

If we could only wrest the secret of their origin
from the marbles, stones, and bricks with which our
palaces, our houses, and our churches were built and
decorated in the period of the Renaissance, if the
marble-dust with which the ceilings and the walls were
plastered, and their stucco ornamentation modelled, by
the cinquecento artists, could be again moulded into the
statues and bas-reliefs from which it was obtained, our
knowledge of the ancient City and of its treasures of
art would be wonderfully enhanced. We cannot follow
the record of this practice without a feeling of melan-
choly as we reflect upon the irreparable loss to culture
and progress which the modern world has experienced in
the disappearance of so many masterpieces in which were
embodied the highest ideals of antiquity. Nothing would
better illustrate the strange turns of fortune than the
varied uses to which the marbles from ancient struc-
tures have been put in modern times; and I may, per-
haps, fittingly close this brief sketch by relating a few
out of the almost numberless instances that have come
to my notice.

258

/I

MODERN USE OP ANCIENT MARBLES 259 J

The beautiful slabs of portasanta, with which the doors
of the church of S. Maria dell' Anima are veneered, were
taken from a marble-cutter's shop, discovered in the
foundations of the same church. The tombstone of Inigo
Piccolomini, Duke of Amalfi, Marquis of Capistrano,
Chief Justice of the kingdom of Naples, buried August /
29, 1566, in S. Maria del Popolo, was cut out of a cornice
from the Baths of Agrippa.

We know from the Memoirs of Flaminio Vacca that
the coat of arms of Pius IV. on the Porta Pia was
carved out of the capital of a column of the Portions
Eventus Boni near the Stagnum Agrippae.^ In the same
connexion Vacca says: "I remember also that while the
Theatine Fathers were laying the foundations of the
church of S. Andrea della Valle they found a part of a
column of grey granite forty palms long. This was sawn
into several pieces, and one of them was turned into the
threshold of the main door of the church."

Vacca further throws light on ■ the disappearance of
the last remains of the temple of Jupiter Optimus
Maximus. "Upon the Tarpeian rock behind the
Palazzo dei Conservatori," he says, "several columns of
Pentelic marble were found. Their capitals were so ~
large that I was able to carve out of one the lion
which is now in the loggia of the Villa Medici facing
the garden. The others were used by Vincenzo de
Rossi for the statues of the prophets and other figures

1 See p. 3.

260

DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

which adorn the chapel of Cardinal Cesi in the church]
of S. Maria della Pace (Fig. 45). No fragment of thej

Fia. 45.— The Cesi chapel in the cliuroli of S. Maria della Pace, built witl
Pentelic marble from the temple of Jupiter Optimiis Maximus.

entablature was found, but as the building was close to
the edge of the Tarpeian rock I suspect that its marbles
must have fallen over the precipice " (Mem. 64).

MODERN USE OF ANCIENT MARBLES 261

The correctness of this surmise was proved in 1780,
one hundred and eighty years after the publication of
Vacca's Memoirs. " In that year," says Montagnani,
" great blocks of entablature of beautiful workmanship
were found under the house at No. 13 Via Montanara,
belonging to Duke Lante della Rovere. The frieze was
ornamented with festoons fastened to the heads of bulls.
They were destroyed on the spot before any one could
make a sketch of them. As this house of Duke Lante
stands at the foot of the Capitoline hill, I have no
doubt that the marbles belong to the temple mentioned
by Vacca."

Toward the middle of the fifteenth century a num-
ber of fluted columns of giallo antico thirteen feet long
were discovered among the ruins of the temple of Venus
in the gardens of Sallust. Cardinal Ricci di Monte-
pulciano bought them and used them for the balustrade
in his chapel in S. Pietro in Montorio. He purchased
also some alabaster columns found at the same place,
which he had sawed into slabs for tables ; these and
other valuable objects were shipped to Lisbon as a
present to the King of Portugal, but the vessel which
bore them foundered in a gale.

When the tepidarium or central hall of the Baths of
Diocletian was adapted for Christian worship by Pius IV.
the capital of one of the eight granite pillars was missing;
Michel Angelo replaced it by another discovered acci-
dentally among the ruins of the temple of Claudius on the

262 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

Caelian. The stadium of Domitian, now represented by
the Piazza Navona, has supplied materials for the erection
of several modern buildings, among them the palace of
Beneinbene in the Piazza Madama, the church of S.
Nicola dei Lorenesi in the Via dell' Anima, and the
Casino of Pius IV. in the Vatican gardens.

The chapel of Gregory XIII. in St. Peter's is mostly
built with marbles from the mausoleum of Hadrian.
Giovanni Alberti, who happened to be in Rome at the
time of its erection, has left the following memorandum
in his sketch-book, now in the Collacchioni library,
Borgo S. Sepolcro : " The frieze with wreaths and
bulls' heads, sketched on these sheets, together with
the architrave and base, was taken from the river-front
of the mausoleum of Hadrian by order of Pope Gregory
XIII. The marbles will be used in building the Gre-
gorian Chapel in St. Peter's. I made these drawings
July 20, 1579." A similar fate befell the marbles dis-
covered in the Augusteum of the Fratres Arvales, near
La Magliana. The Augusteum was an oblong hall, sup-
ported by columns of Greek marble twenty-two feet
high. It contained statues of imperial members of the
brotherhood, standing on pedestals inscribed with their
praises. The statues were saved and were dispersed
among several collections ; the columns and pedestals
were cut up for the decoration of the same chapel.

Up to about the middle of the sixteenth century there
were considerable remains of the Baths of Titus standing

MODERN USE OF ANCIENT MARBLES 263

east of the Coliseum, between S. Pietro in Vincoli and
the Baths of Trajan.^ Here were found sections of " the
most beautiful cornices," which, according to the pre-
vailing custom, were sawed up into slabs, and were sold
to the Jesuits to be used in their church of Gesu. The
mention of this church brings to my memory another
incident of the same sort. From the beautiful volume
lately published by Plon in Paris,^ we learn that in or
about 1541, the head of the Roman house of the Jesuits,
Father Condatius, unearthed in the piazza then called
degli Altieri, now del Gesu, some great blocks of marble
which he sold for one hundred ducats. Another docu-
ment which I have discovered in the state archives
tells us that the marbles were bought by a lime-burner
and consumed in a kiln close to the church.

The columns of verde antico which ornament the
balcony of the Farnese palace, and those of the villa
of Julius III, on the Via Flaminia, come from the Baths
of the Acque Albule, or sulphur springs, in the plain
below Tivoli. The columns of rare breccia on the high
altar of the church of S. Rocco are from an ancient
building on the site of the present Orto Botanico, The
two alabaster columns of the Odescalchi Chapel in the
SS. Apostoli were found in 1728 in the palace of Au-

1 They are represented on sheets 17 and 18 of the Vestigi delV anti-
chita di Soma of du Perac (edition of 1575).

2 La vie de Saint Ignace de Loyola d^apres Pierre Bihadeneira, son
premier historien^ par le P. Charles Clair, S.J., p. 278.

264 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

gustus on the Palatine. The vestibule of the church
of S. Teodoro is paved with pieces of porphyry found
at La Marmorata. The uppermost steps of the Porto di
Ripetta, removed in 1888, were paved with blocks of
serpentine from the same place. The piazza and the
inclined approach of the Capitol were paved with
travertine slabs from the area in front of the Pan-
theon. The columns of breccia corallina in the chapel
of S. Sebastiano on the Palatine come from the house
of the Vestals ; those of the chapel of the Morti in S.
Lorenzo fuori le Mura from the police barracks on the
Caelian (castra Peregrinorum).

The Ginetti chapel in S. Andrea della Valle is inlaid
with slabs of Africano discovered at Porto ; the Falco-
nieri Chapel in S. Giovanni dei Fiorentini, with marbles
from the great temple of Juno at Veii ; the Borghese
Chapel in S. Maria Maggiore, with the spoils of the
temples and palaces on the Aventine ; and the Bernini
palace at S. Andrea delle Fratte, modernised by the
present owner in 1868, with the spoils of the Baths of
Licinius Sura. The terminal tower of the city wall on
the left bank of the Tiber below Monte Testaccio was
built by Honorius or Narses with blocks of alabaster
from the neighbouring marble-wharf; at the beginning
of the last century the tower was pulled down and the
blocks were used again for the chapel of Raphael in
the Pantheon.

When we think of the wealth of marbles displayed

MODERN USE OF ANCIENT MARBLES 265

in the public and private buildings of Rome, and at
the same time consider that every cubic foot has been
obtained from the monuments of the ancient City, we
gain a new insight into the magnitude of the building
operations of the ancient Romans. We must remember,
too, that the greater part of the ancient marbles used by
modern architects and marble-workers were found either
shapeless or in a form unsuited to the use for which they
were needed, so that at least from a third to a half of the
gross cubic content has been lost.

In 1845 Faustino Corsi made a list of the marble
columns dispersed over the fourteen wards of the city ;
the total number recorded by him is 7012. Since the
publication of this catalogue fifty-four years have elapsed,
and we may calculate that the number has been increased
by at least one-tenth, so that to-day the sum total is
probably not far from 8000. This is truly a surprising
number, but it is far from incredible, if we recall that
the City once possessed 3000 statues of bronze alone.

INDEXES

I. INDEX OF SUBJECTS

Abbey, Westminster, 184, 187 fol.
Acqua Paola, fountain of, 255.
Acque Albiile, baths of, 203.
Adalbert, Count, gives warning of the

approach of the Saracens, 127.
S. Adriano. See Church, under Ha-
drian.
Aesculapius, statue of, 29.
St. Agatha, posterula of, 139 fol.;

church of, 145, 147.
Agilulf , 88.
S. Agnese fuori le Mura, garden of, 20 ;

church of, 20, 32.
S. Agnese (Piazza Navona) , church of,

246, 256.
S. Agostino, church of, 204.
Agrippa, improvement of Rome, 11 ;

Pantheon of, 110; statue of, 111;

head of (?), 112.
Agrippae Stagnum, 259.
Aix-la-Chapelle, cathedral of, 183.
Alaric, 53, 91, 115 ; advance on Rome

in 408, 56 ; enters the city in 410, 57.
Albinus, Lucius, 112.
Aldobrandini gardens, 24.
S. Alessio, church of, 254.
Alexander VI., VII. See Pope.
Altar of the Sacrament, bronze col-
umns of, 247.
S. Ambrogio, church of, 253.
Anastasis (S. Anastasia). See Church.
S. Andrea at Amalfi, church of, 184 ;

delle Frate,264 ; at the Manger, 118 ;

della Valle, 4, 259, 264.
SS. Andreae et Gregorii ad Clivuni

Scaurum, church, 121.
S. Angelo, castle of, 8, 88, 128, 133,

156, 160, 177, 214.

Anguillara, 199.

Anicii, 199.

Anicius Acilius Aginatius, 37; Pau-
linus, 36.

An nia Corn ificia Faustina, house of, 57.

Annibaldi, 201.

S. Anselmo, garden of, 57.

Antiochia, statue of, 104.

Antonio da Sahgallo, the younger,
memorandum of, 32.

Antonius and Faustina, temple of,
111.

S. Apollinare, church of, 246, 254.

Apollo Belvedere, 222. •

SS. Apostoli. See Church.

Apoxyomenos, copy of, 69.

Appian Way. See Via Appia.

Apusii, tomb of the, 103.

Aqua Alexandrina, 240 ; Anio Vetus,
82 ; Appia, 82 ; Claudia, 80, 85, 240 ;
Felice, 82, 85, 240, 242 ; Marcia, 80,
85, 240 ; Virgo, 82.

Aqueducts, water supply of, cut off by
Goths, 79; channels of, neglected,
80 fol.; used for fortifications, 83.
Also, see Aqua.

Ara Maxima, 17, 209.

Aracoeli, church of the, 220.

Arcadius, inscription relating to, 50;
restored city walls, 53 ; with Hono-
rius repaired theatre of Pompey,
152.

Arcadius, Honorius, and Theodosius.
See Arch.

Arch, of Arcadius, Honorius, and Theo-
dosius, 52, 53, 151 ; of M. Aurelius,
on the Corso, 118, 231, 256 fol. ; di
Camigliauo, 245 ; of Claudius, 148,

267

268

INDEX OF SUBJECTS

245 ; of Constantine, 19, 30, 201 ; of
Gratianus, Valentinianus, and Theo-
dosius, 52, 151, 207; of Gordianus,
211; of Janus Quadrifrons (of the
Forum Boarium), 34, 125, 201, 235,
241; of Lentulus, 191 ; arcns novus
(near S. Maria in Via Lata) , 210; of
Septimius Severus, 145, 147, 148, 251 ;
of Titus, 121, 151, 201 ; of Trajan, 31 ;
of Valentinian and Valens, 53.

Architectus puhlicorum, 77.

Arcus Caelimontani, 78.

Argiletum, 147, 153.

Ariadne, statue of the sleeping, 222.

Ariulf, 88.

Arruntii, tomb of the, 31.

Art(orius?) Germanianus, house of,
24.

Augusteum, 110; of the Fratres Ar-
vales, 262.

Augustus, transformation of the city
during the administration of, 10
fol. ; places images of the gods in the
Compital shrines, 38; statue of. 111 ;
mausoleum of, 170, 176, 199 ; palace
of, on the Palatine, 263 fol.

Aurelian, walls of, 15.

Aurelius, Marcus, 58 ; column of, 109,
125, 166, 238, 239 ; bronze equestrian
statue of, 222, 231 fol. See Arch.

Aurelius Avianius Symmachus, L.,
house of, 45, 77.

Aventine, finds on the, 61 fol.

Avidius Quietus, house of, 24.

Avignon, seat of papacy at, 198.

Bacchus, statue of the Indian, 29.
Baccio Pontelli, buildings erected by,

204.
S. Balbina, church of, 198.
Balbus, L. Cornelius, 11 ; capacity of

theatre of, 5; cryptus of, 157, 176,

177.
Barbarians not accountable for the

disappearance of Roman monuments,

7.
Bartoli, extracts from the memoirs of

Pietro Santo, 40, 62, 90.
Basilica of Junius Bassus, 118; of

Constantine, 110; Eudoxiana, 75;

Jovis, 177 ; Julia, 22, 3(5, 91, 157, 191,

194, 211 ; Salvatoris in Laterano, 33.

See Church.
Bathing establishment discovered on

the Esquiline, 28.
Baths, of the Acque Albule, 263 ; of the

Julii Akarii, 152; of Licinius Sura,

204; of Livia on the Palatine, 23.

See Thermae.
Bath-tubs, pagan, used for holding the

relics of martyrs, 117.
Belisarius, 75, 79.
Belvedere, 204 ; torso of, 222.
Benedict V., VI., VIII., IX., XIV.

See Pope.
Bernini, Lorenzo, discovery made by,

41.
Boniface IV., VI., VIII. See Pope.
Borgia. See Pope.
Bove, Capo di, 236. See Caecilia Me-

tella.
Bramante, buildings erected by, 204;

designs for St. Peter's, 212.
Bridge, Aemilian (Pons Aemilius,

Ponte Rotto), 199, 232, 251; of S.

Angelo (Aelian), 41, 142 fol., 177,

178; of Cestius (S. Bartolomeo),

34; Milvian, 208; of Valentinian

(Ponte Sisto), 34, 246; Vatican

(Pons Vaticanus or Neronianus), 53,

151, 208.
Burgus, the quarter, 128; walls of,

132 fol., 136, 177.
Burial-places. See Tombs.
Byzantine colony about the Palatine,

122.

S. Caecilia, church of, 116.

Caecilia Metella, tomb of, 92, 96, 191,

236 fol.
Caelestinus II. See Pope.
Caelian, market hall on (S. Stefano

Rotondo), 34, 37; suffered from

Norman-Saracenic invasion, 162.
Caesar, Julius, statue of, 232; statue

of a young, 104.
Caetani, the, 201.
Calcararii, 180 fol.; headquarters of,

193.
Cameos. See G^ems.

I

INDEX OF SUBJECTS

269

Campagna, 153 ; outlaws of, 158 ; final
desolation of, 101.

Campo di Fioii, 5.

Canale di Fiumicino, 33.

Capitolium, 12, 143, 145, 153, 189, 248,
264. See Museum.

Caracalla, 22. See Thermae.

Cariuae, 201.

S. Carlo al Corso, church of, 254.

Cartularia, Turris, 121, 201.

Caryatides of Diogenes, 111.

Casal Rotondo, 237.

Casino dei Quattro Venti, 16.

Cassino, Monte, cathedral of, 184 fol.

Cassiodorius, 38, 77 fol., 183.

Castor and Pollux, statues of, 232 fol.

Catacombs, abandoned after the Gothic
invasion, 70, 91 ; devasted by the bar-
barians,70 fol. ; who encamped about
the entrance to, 71 ; restorations of,
71 ; relics of martyrs transferred
from, 106, 115 fol.

Cathedrals, partially built of Roman
marbles ; Aix-la-Chapelle, 183 ; Pisa,
and others, 184 fol. ; Westminster
Abbey, 187 fol.

Celer, Nero's architect, 19 ; his mauso-
leum and epitaph, 20.

Celestine IV. See Pope.

S. Celso in Banchi, church of, 151, 208.

SS. Celso and Giuliano, church of, 213.

Cemeteries, ancient, covered over, 15,
16; cameos and gems found on the
sites of Christian, 94 fol.

S. Cesario in Palatio, church of, 106,
120 ; monasterium of, 120.

Cespian hill, 40.

Cestius, Gains, tomb of, 96, 178.

Cestius (S. Bartolomeo) , bridge of, 34.

Christopher. See Pope.

Church, of S. Agatha, 145, 147; S.
Agnese, 20, 32 (Piazza Navona), 246,
2f6; S. Agostino, 204; S. Alessio,
254 ; S. Ambrogio, 253 ; S. Anastasia
(Anastasis, the Resurrection), 122,
175, 176, 254, 256; S. Andrea at
Amalfi, 184 ; S. Andrea della Frate,
264 ; St. Andrew at the Manger, 118 ;
S. Andrea della Valle, 4, 259, 264;
SS. Andreae et Gregorii ad Clivum

Scaurum, 121 ; S. ApoUinare, 246,
254; SS. Apostoli, 116, 204, 245, 254,
263 ; of the Aracoeli, 220 ; S. Balbina,
198; S. Caecilia, 116; S. Carlo al
Corso, 254; S. Celso in Banchi, 151,
208; SS. Celso e Giuliano, 213; S.
Cesario in Palatio, 106, 120; S. Cir-
iaco (S. Cyriacus), 91, 137, 147; S.
Clemente, 33, 162 ; SS. Cosma e
Damiano, 37, 110, 118 (Subiaco), 137,
254, 256 ; S. Croce in Gerusalemme,
246, 254; S. Dionysius, 110, 139; S.
Donatus, 213 ; S. Euplos, 122 ; S.
Euphemia in Vico Patricii, 145, 148;
S. Eustachio, 191 ; S. Francesca
Romana, 175; Gesu, 263; S. Galla
Patricia, 177; S. Giacomo del Col-
osseo, 89 ; S. Giacomo Scossa-Cavalli,
178; S. Giorgio in Velabro, 122, 125,
241; S. Giovanni dei Fiorentini, 2CA ;
(see St. John) ; S. Giovanni e Paolo,
254; S. Girolamo degli Schiavoni,
239; S. Gregorio, 254; St. Hadrian
(S. Adriano), 110, 123, 145, 147, 165,
175, 253, 256; S. Ignazio, 256; St.
John Lateran, 123, 159, 206, 207, 234,
239, 244, 246, 251 (see Lateran); St.
Lawrence, 110 ; S. Laurentius in
Portion Maiore, 178; of the Ordo,
178 ; S. Laurentius in Damaso, 145 ;
S. Laurentius in Pensilis, 147 ; S.
Laurentius in Formoso, 145, 148; S.
Laurentius in Prasino, 145, 146; S.
Lorenzo fuori le Mura (St. Lawrence
on the Via Tiburtina), 33, 40, 132,
136, 264; S. Lorenzo in Panisperna,
246 ; S. Lucia de Calcarario (S. Lucia
dei Ginnasi), 193; S. Lucia in Selce,
142, 147; S. Marcello, 90; Marcelli,
213; S. Maria dell' Anima, 259; S.
Maria Antiqua, 110 ; S. Maria in
Campitelli, 91 ; S. Maria in Cosme-
din, 34, 176, 208 ; S. Maria delle
Grazie, 91 ; S. Maria Liberatrice,
120; S. Maria Maggiore, 175, 204,
239, 241, 255, 264; S. Maria ad
Martyres (Pantheon), 90, 110 fol.,
115; S. Maria in Monticelli, 165; S.
Maria Nova, 103; S. Maria Nuova,
91, 175, 246; S. Maria della Pace,

270

INDEX OF SUBJECTS

204, 260; S. Maria in Pallara, 256;
S. Maria del Popolo, 204, 259; S.
Maria in Schola Greca, 122 ; S. Maria
del Sole, 12 ; S. Maria Transpoutina,
178; S. Maria in Trastevere, 152;
S. Maria in Via Lata, 139, 210; S.
Maria in Virgari, 178; S. Martina,
110, 118, 231, 253 ; S. Martino ai
Monti, 79; S. Michele in Borgo,
117; La Minerva, 171, 205, 245; St.
Nicholas, 169; St. Nicolaus in Cal-
caria (S. Nicolo ai Cesarini), 193;
S. Nicolo in Calcarario, 90; S. Nicolo
dei Lorenesi, 262; S. Orso, 151; St.
Pancras, 79, 243; S. Pantaleo ai
Monti, 165 ; (see Pantheon = Roton-
da ;) St. Paul's without the walls (S.
Paolo fuori le Mura) , 33, (50, 117, 128,
132, 135 fol., 143, 181 ; St. Peter's. 8,
52, 60, 72, 117, 122, 128, 151, 175, 177,
178, 191, 208, 212, 213, 217, 219, 253,
262; S. Phocas, 122; S. Pietro in
Montorio, ISX), 204, 261 ; S. Pietro in
Vincoli, 75, 148, 204 ; S. Prisca, 61 ;
S. Praesede, 116; S. Pudens in Vico
Patricio, 145, 148 ; S. Pudenziana,
246: SS. Quaranta de Calcarario (S.
Francesco delle Stimmate), 193; SS.
Quatro Coronati, 165, 181 ; SS. Qui-
rico e Giolitta, 147 ; S. Rocco, 263 ;
S. Saba, 122; S. Sabina, 61; S. Sal-
vatore in Campo, 256; S. Salvator
de Porticu, 178 ; S. Salvatore in Pri-
micerio, 165 ; of the Saviour, 110 ; S.
Sebastiano in Pallara, 91 ; S. Sebas-
tiano alia Polveriera, 121 ; SS. Ser-
gius et Bacchus, 110, 145, 146 ; S. Sil-
vestro in Capite (St. Sylvester), 139,
166, 219, 245 ; Sistine Chapel, 204 ; S.
Stefano delle Carozze, 12 ; S. Ste-
fano Rotondo, 34, 37 ; S. Susanna,
242; S. Teodoro, 117, 122, 264; S.
Vibiana, 116, 256 ; S. Vitalis in Vico
Longo, 145, 148, 192.

Churches outside the walls abandoned,

12G. See Cathedrals.
' Circus Maximus, 4, 17, 19, 48, 66, 143,
151, 170, 176, 191,207; Flaminius, 66,
145, mi, 147, 157, 193 ; of Nero, 32.

S. Ciriaco (S. Cyriacus). See Church.

Civita Castellana, 13, 247.

Civitas Leonina. See Burgus.

Claudia Vera, house of, 24.

Claudius (Caelian) , temple of, 208, 261 ;
bust of, 196.

Claudius Claudianus, house of, 24.

Clement VII, VlII. See Pope.

S. Clemente, church of, 33, 162.

Clergy, ignorance of the Roman, 117.

Clivus Argentarius, 147 ; Capitoliuus,
34; Sacer, 22, 3(5; Scauri, 19; Sub-
uranus, 63, 147 ; Victoriae, 120.

Clodius Hermogenianus, 36.

Coliseum (Flavian Amphitheatre),
28, 34, 48, 77, 89, 125, 175, 191, 201,
206, 207, 208, 211, 251.

Collegium Fortunae Felicis, offices of,
27.

Colonna family, 199.

Comes formarum nrbis, 78.

Comes partus urbis Romae, 78.

Commodus, bust of, 222.

Compital shrines, adorned by Augus-
tus, 38.

Concord, temple of, 110, 206.

Conflagrations, described by Livy, 16 ;
under the Emperor Nero, in (54 a.d.,
17 fol. ; traces of this fire, 19 ; in the
Forum Romanum, 21 fol.; in the
reign of Titus, 80 a.d., 22, 28; in
the reign of Commodus, 191 a.d.,
22; in the reign of Carinus in 283
A.D., 22; in 1084 a.d., 160 fol.

Constans II., visit to Rome in 663 A.D.,
8, 92, 111, 123 fol.

Constantia, mausoleum of, 32.

Constantine, 29; dismantled earlier
buildings, 31 ; and erected the basil-
ica of St. Peter's, 31 fol. ; regionary
catalogue compiled in the time of,
48; equestrian statues of, 145, 153;
statues of, 222. See Arch, Basilica,
Thermae.

Constantius II., 34, 47 fol.

Corneto, treasures from, 247.

Cornificius, Lucius, 11.

Corridojo di Castello, 133.

Cortile di Belvedere, 90.

Cortina beati Petri, 178.

SS. Cosma e Damiano. See Church.

INDEX OF SUBJECTS

271

Cosmatis, school of, 34, 180 fol., 203.

Cosmus, house of, 58.

Craticulae Templum, 177.

Crescenzi, the, 200.

S. Croce in Gerusalemme, church of,

24ti, 254.
Curator Statuarum, 34.
Curia. See Senate-house.
Cybele, statue of, 70, 112.
Cypress, the, 145 fol.

S. Damaso, court of, 204.

Damasus. See Pope.

Dea Dia, temple of, 208.

Decii. See Thermae.

Decius Albiuus, Caecina, 61 ; Marius

Venantius Basilius, 77 ; Trajauus,

28.
" Destruction " and " Disappearance "

of Roman monuments, distinction in

meaning, 4.
Destruction of Roman villas, causes

of, 101 ; of monuments in Roman and

in modern times, 189 fol.
Destruction of Rome, three facts

prominent in the history of, 13 fol.
Diocletian, 29; repairs buildings in

the Forum, 22; triumph of, 49 fol. ;

statue of, 104. See Thermae.
St. Diony.sius, church of, 110, 139.
Domitian, house of, on the Palatine,

119; villa of, 186.
Domus Gaiana, 120 ; Pinciana, 38, 183.
St. Donatus, church of, 213.

Elephantus Herbarius, 176.

Ephebus, statuette of, 196.

Equestrian group, pedestal of, found
in Forum, 50.

Esquiline hill, covered over and raised
by Augustus, 14; the event com-
memorated by Horace, 15; market-
place on, 34; gate of, 147.

Eugenius, defeat of, 35.

Eugenius IV. See Pope.

S. Euphemia in Vico Patricii, church
of, 145, 148.

S. Euplos, church of, 122.

S. Eustachio; church of, 191.

Euterpe, statue of, 104.

Eventus Bonus, colonnade of, 4.

Excavations, in the time of Pope Eu-
genius IV., 112 ; of Sixtus IV., 66 ; of
Innocent VIII., 103; of Pius IV., 5,
61 ; in 1724 (Palatine) , 119 ; in 1762
(Villa Quintiliorum), 103; in 1780
( Appian Way) , 105 ; in time of Pope
Pius VI., 104 ; by Carlo Torlonia, 104 ;
in 1849, 69 ; in 1855, 105 ; in 1862, 5 ;
in 1864, 66; in 1867-68 (at Ostia),
127 ; in 1869 (Palatine), 119, 196, (Via
Severiana), 93; in 1873 (Esquiline),
28 ; in 1875 (Esquiline) , 94 ; in 1876,
5; in 1877 (near the Coliseum), 19,
(Via Nazionale), 23; in 1879 (Ther-
mae of Constantine), 24 ; in 1880
(Site of the English Church), 69; in
1883 (House of the Vestals), 121,
196; by Boccanera in 1883-84, 105;
in 1885 (Teatro Drammatico), 66;
in 1886, 13, (Piazza Bocca della Ver-
ita), 17, (Esquiline), 42; in 1887, 14;
in 1888 (Temple of Isis), 42 ; in 1891,
4; in 1892 (garden of S. Sabina),
58; in 1895 (near the Coliseum), 89;
in 1896 (Piazza Bocca della Ver-
ita), 39; in the Vigna Torlonia and
Vigna Maciocchi, 57.

Fabbrica di S. Pietro, 228, 235.

Fabii, tomb of the, 31.

Fabius Felix Passifilus Paulinus, 36;

Titianus, 36.
Factionis Prasinae Stabula, 146.
Falerii, 13.

Fates, group of the Three, 87.
Ficoroni, Francesco di, 41, 91 fol.
Flavinus Philippus, 151.
Fontana, Domenico (architect of Sixtus

V.) , 85, 238, 240, 241.
Formosus. See Pope.
Forum of Augustus, 112.
Forum Boarium, 12, 16 ; arch of the,

34, 125, 201, 209, 235, 241,
Forum Holitorium, 159, 177.
Forum Julium, 22, 207, 208.
Forum Romanum, 21 fol., 34, 110, 120,

143, 145, 147, 153, 165, 199, 246.
Forum of Trajan, 15, 47, 145, 152, 199.
Forum Trausitorium, 157, 212, 255.

272

INDEX OF SUBJECTS

S. Francesca Romana, church of, 175.
S. Francesco delle Stimmate, church

of, 19.3.
Frangipani, the, 121, 199, 201.

Gabinius Vettius Probianus, 36.

Gaianum, 87.

S. Galla Patricia, church of, 177.

Gallienus, 32.

Ganymede, statue of, 104.

Gardens, Liciuian, 15; of Maecenas,

12; of Sallust, 171.
Gelasius II. See Pope.
Gems and cameos, engraved, usually

found near the sites of cemeteries,

94fol.
Genseric and the Vandals, 74 fol., 119,

455.
Gesii, church of, 263.
S. Giacomo del Colosseo, church of,

89; Scossa-Cavalli, 178.
Gildo, Count, 50.

S. Giorgio in Velabro. See Church.
S. Giovanni, hospital of, 240.
S. Giovanni dei Fiorentini, church of,

264 ; e Paolo, 254.
S. Giovanni, in Florence, baptistery

of, 184.
S. Girolamo degli Schiavoni, church

of, 239.
Gladiator, bronze statue of, 66.
Golden House of Nero, 23.
Gordian, the younger, villa of, on the

Via Praenestina, 6.
Gothic wars, monument relating to, 50.
Goths, signs of the pillage of Rome by

the, 58.
Graecorum Ecclesia et Schola, 176.
Grain Exchange, 34.
Gratianus, 34, 35. See Arch.
Gregorian Chapel, in St. Peter's, 262.
S. Gregorio, church of, 254.
Gregoriopolis, 126 fol.
Gregory the Great, Gregory III., IV.,

VI., VII., IX., XL, XIII., XVI. See

Pope.
Guiscard, Robert, 159 fol.

Hadrian, bust of, 32. See Mausoleum.
St. Hadrian. See Church.

Hadrian I., III. See Pope.

Harpocrates, head of, 196.

Hathor, replica of the sacred cow, ■
44.

St. Helena, tomb of, 72.

Henry IV., Emperor, 160.

Heracles, torso of, 222.

Heraclius, 118, 119, 122.

Hercules, Farnese, 44 ; Invictus, statue
of, 66 ; Magnus Gustos, bronze statue
of, &i ; Olivarius, statue of, 39; Vic-
tor, 209.

Honorius, 50, 53, 55, 72. See Arch.

Honorius. See Pope.

Horse, bronze, of the Palazzo dei Con-
servatori, 69.

Horse-tamers, group of, 145, 147, 222,
238.

S. Ignazio, church of, 256.

Innocent II., III., VII., VIII. See
Pope.

Inscriptions, of the Einsiedlen Itiner-
ary, 151 fol. ; of Benedict, 174 fol.

Isis. See Temple.

Itinerary, Einsiedlen, 142 fol., 174 fol. ;
of Benedict, 174 fol.

Janus, bronze statue of, 87; temple
of, 110.

Janus Quadrifrons, arch of, 125, 201,
211.

Jerusalem, spoils from the temple of,
57.

Johannipolis, 136.

St. John Lateran . See Church , Lateran .

John VII., VIII., IX., X., XL, XII. See
Pope.

Julia Domna, 22, 104.

Julian, the Apostate, 48.

Julii Akarii, baths of, 152.

Julius II., III. See Pope.

Juno, temple of, 61, 265.

Jupiter Optimus Maximus, see Tem-
ple; Stator, temple of, 18, 121.

Kilns. See Lime-kilns.

Laocoon, replica of, 41 ; finding of,
211, 222, 223.

_.^

INDEX OP SUBJECTS

273

Lateran, the, 106, 160, 166, 175, 219,
231, 242 fol., 254. See Church, under
St. John Lateran.

Lautumiae, 16.

S. Laurentius, in Damaso, church of,
145; in Formoso, 145, 148; of the
Ordo, 178 ; in Pensilis, 147 ; in Por-
ticu Maiore, 178; in Prasino, 145,
146; on the Via Tiburtiua (S. Lo-
renzo fuori le Mura). See Church.

Leo IL, III., IV., v., X., XIII. See
Pope.

Leonine wall, 133 fol.

Level of the city, rise in, 53, 54.

Lex Regia, 234.

Liber Politicus of Benedict, 174.

Liber Censuum, 176.

Licinian gardens, 15.

Ligorio, Pirro, 192, 194.

Lime-burners, 180 fol.

Lime-kilns, of Rome, 193 fol. ; Palace
of Tiberius, 195 fol.; Atrium of
Vesta, 196 ; of Ostia and Porto, 194
fol.

Livia, baths of, on the Palatine, 23;
villa of, at Prima Porta, 194 ; market
of, 152.

Loggia of Squarcialupi, 248.

S. Lorenzo fuori le Mura. See Church.

S. Lorenzo, in Panisperna, church of,
246.

Lucca, cathedral of, 184.

S. Lucia de Calcarario (S. Lucia dei
Ginnasi), 193; in Selce, 142, 147.

Lueilius Paetus, tomb of, 92.

Lysippus, 8, 87.

Maecenas, gardens of, 12.
Magna Mater, 117.
Maioranus, edict of, 75.
Marble-cutters, 180 fol. ; plan of the

city, 18.
Marbles, traffic in Roman, 181 fol. ;

tolerated by public officials, 190 fol.
Marcella, house of, 58 ; fate of, 59, 60.
Marcelli, church of the, 213.
S. Marcello, church of, 90.
Marcellus. See Theatre.
S. Maria, dell' Aniraa, church of, 259 ;

Antiqua, 110; in Campitelli, 91;

in Cosmedin (see Church) ; delle
Grazie, 91 ; Liberatrice, 120 ; Mag-
giore (see Church) ; ad Martyres
(Pantheon) (see Church) ; in Monti-
celli, 165; Nova, 103; Nuova (see
Church); della Pace, 204, 260; in
Pallara, 256; del Popolo, 204, 259;
in Schola Graeca, 122 ; del Sole, 12 ;
Transpontina, 178; in Trastevere,
152 ; in Via Lata, 139, 210 ; in Xir-
gari, 178.

Marinus I., II. See Pope.

Market hall of theCaelian (S. Stefano
Rotondo), 34,(37; on the Esquiline,
35. -

Marmorarii, 180 fol.

Marmorata, La, 33, 246, 264.

Martin V. See Pope.

S. Martina. See Church.

S. Martino ai Monti, church of, 79.

Mater Matuta, temple of, 12, 39.

Matteo da Castello, architect of Pius
IV., 61 ; of Sixtus V., 85, 240, 252.

S. Matteo at Salerno, cathedral of,
184.

Mauritius, 106.

Mausoleum, of Augustus, 170, 17C, 199;
of Constantia, 32; of Hadrian, 8, 87,
151, 186, 189, 208, 210, 256, 262; of
the Empress Helena, 246.

Maxentius, 22, 31.

Mediaeval Rome, desolation of, 178 fol.

Mellini, 199.

Meta di Borgo, 178.

Meta Sudans, 30.

S. Michele in Borgo, church of, 117.

Minerva, statue of, 29; temple of, 255.

Minerva Medica (so called) , temple of,
95.

Minerva, La. See Church.

Mirabilia Urbis Romae, 175.

Mithras, temple of, 245.

Mole. See Mausoleum.

Moletta, La, 17.

Monte Giordano, 5 ; de' Cenci, 5.

Moon, temple of the, 17.

Moors of Frassineto, 158.

Moses, fountain of, 239.

Mosileos, the imperial mausoleum of
the Decadence, 72.

274

INDEX OF SUBJECTS

Municipal authorities favor the preser-
vation of monuments, 228 fol.

Museum, Capitoline, 18, 228, 256 ; al
Celio, 13, 90; villa di Giulio III., 13;
Torlonia, 105 ; Vatican, 90, 104, 257 ;
See Palazzo dei Conservatori.

Myron, cow of, 87.

Naevius, Lucius Clemens, house of.

24.
Natural agencies in the demolition of

ancient buildings, 7.
Nero, 4 ; thermae of, 14 ; set the city

on fire, 17 fol. ; traces of this fire, 19 ;

Golden House of, 23 ; Circus of, 32 ;

bust of, 196.
Nerone, Sepoltura di, 158.
Neronis Obeliscus, 177.
St. Nicholas, church of, 169.
Nicolas I., V. See Pope.
S. Nicolaus in Calcaria (S. Nicolo ai

Cesarini) , church of, 193,
S. Nicolo, in Calcarario, church of, 90 ;

dei Lorenesi, 262.
Nile, figure of, 222.
Nermann], 199.
Norman-Saracenic invasion, 159 fol.;

traces of, 162 fol.
Nymphaeum, 151,

Obelisk, of Thothmes III. removed to
Rome by Constantine II., 48 ; of the
Vatican, 148, 169, 238; in the Cam-
pus Martins, 169, 171 fol. ; from the
Circus Maximus, 170 ; from the Mau-
soleum of Augustus, 170 ; of the gar-
dens of Sallust, 171 ; of the temple
of Isis, 173; manner of the fall of,
169 fol. ; of the Piazza del Popolo,
239.

Obeliscus Neronis, 177.

Octavia. See Portions.

Odeum, 5, 48.

Oppian, 165.

Oratories of the Lateran destroyed by
Sixtus v., M2 fol.

Oratorium Sacrae Crucis, 243 fol.

Ordo Romanus, 174 fol.

Orsini, the, 199.

S. Orso, church of, 151.

Orvieto, cathedral of, 184 fol.
Ostia, 19, 33, 93, 126, 137, 184, 186, IS
206, 208, 235, 246.

Pactumeii, palace of the, 58.

Pagan edifices converted into Christian
churches, 37.

Pagan cults, representation of, in
Christian churches, 117 fol.

Palace, of Septimius Severus, 3; of
the Caesars in the seventh century,
119, 235; of Augustus on the Pala-
tine, 263 fol.

Palatine, remains of private houses on
the, 23 ; late occupancy of, 119 fol. ;
desolation of, 199 ; possessed by the
Frangipani, 201.

Palatiolum, 208.

Palazzo, della Cancelleria, 191, 204
211, 239; dei Conservatori, 13, 222
231, 232; di Corneto, 191; Farnese
191, 263; Giraud-Torlonia, 178, 204
211 ; del Governo Vecchio, 204 ; Ros
pigliosi, 255.

Palilia, 228.

Pallacinae, 147.

Palladium, monastery called, 121.

St. Paucras, church of, 79, 243.

S. Pantaleo ai Monti, church of, 165.

Pantheon, 4, 9, 37, 41, 48, 90, 106, 110
fol., 119, 124, 125, 145, 146, 200, 245,
254, 256, 264.

S. Paolo fuori le Mura. See Church.

Papi, the, 199.

Paschal I., II. See Pope.

Patriarchium, pontifical residence at
the Lateran, 242 fol.

St. Paul, tomb of, 129 fol.

St. Paul's without the walls. See
Church.

Paul II., III., v. See Pope.

Peace, temple of, 57.

Penates, temple of, 110, 223.

Peregrinorum Castra, 264.

St. Peter, gate of, 145, 177 ; tomb ol
129 fol., 221, 224; chapel to, 110.

St. Peter's, church of. See Church.

Petrarch, 182.

Petronilla, tomb of, 72.

Phidias, 8, 87.

INDEX OF SUBJECTS

275

Philippus, Marcius, 11.

Phocas, 37, 106 fol., 120.

S. Phocas, church of, 122.

Piazza Navona. See Stadium.

Pierleoni, the, 199.

Pietas, shrine of, 10, 159, 177.

S. Pietro, in Montorio ; in Vincoli. See
Church.

*' Pilgrim's Pence," 157.

Pinturicchio, frescoes of, 221, 222.

Pisa, cathedral of, 184.

Pisidius Romulus, 52.

Pius II., IV., v., VI., VII., IX. See
Pope.

Poggio Bracciolini, 205 fol.

Pompey. See Theatre.

Pope Alexander VI., 55, 177, 178, 204,
205, 210, 211, 225 ; Alexander VII., 9G,
123, 253, 25(5; Benedict III., 131, 139;
Benedict V., 154; Benedict VI., 155;
Benedict VIII., 154; Benedict IX.,
155; Benedict XIV., Ill, 254; Boni-
face IV., 37, 110, 112, 115; Boniface
VI., 154 ; Boniface VIII., 98, 234, 243 ;
Boniface IX., 213; Borgia, 133; Cae-
lestinus II., 174, 194; Celestine IV.,
213; Christopher I., 155; Clement
VII., 133, 222, 225 ; Clement VIII., 244
fol.; Damasus, 146; Eiigenius IV.,
112, 203, 204, 207, 213 ; Formosus,
154, 155; Gelasius II., 184; Gregory
the Great, 88, 101; Gregory III.,
112; Gregory IV., 12G fol.; Gregory
VI., 155 ; Gregory VII., 154, 160, 162 ;
Gregory IX., 213; Gregory XL, 198;
Gregory XIII., 151, 235, 251, 262;
Gregory XVI., 155; Hadrian I., 243;
Hadrian III., 155 ; Honorius I., 8, 122,
147; Innocent II., 174; Innocent III.,
201; Innocent VII., 213, 219; Inno-
cent VIII., 103, 203, 210, 225; John
VII., 120, 219 ; John VIII., 135 fol.,
154 ; John IX., 155; John X., 154, 155 ;
John XI., 156; John XII., 155; Julius
XL, 211, 212, 217, 222; Julius III., 36;
Leo II., 116; Leo III., 131, 183; Leo
IV., 131, 133, 136 fol. ; Leo V., 155 ; Leo
X., 211, 213, 217, 222 ; Leo XIII., 135,
222; Marinus I., 154, 160; Marinus
n., 121 ; Martin V., 204, 206 ; Nicolas

I., 201, 242 ; Nicolas V., 204, 306, 207,
212, 213; Paschal I., 116; Paschal II.,
1&5 ; Paul II., 203, 204, 208 ; Paul III.,
33, %, 191, 225, 228; Paul V., 122,
219, 253, 255; Pius II., 217, 225; Pius
IV., 5, 55, 178, 232, 259, 261 ; Pius V.,
227, 239; Pius VI., 104; Pius VII.,
189, 194, 218; Pius IX., 55, 189, 219 ;
Romanus, 155; Sergius L, 123; Ser-
giusIL, 127, 130; Sergius III., 155;
Silverius, 70; Sixtus IV., 55, 203, 204,
209, 217, 222; Sixtus V., 82, 148, 170,
2;55, 237 fol.; Stephen II., 72, 118;
Stephen v., 116; Stephen VI., 155, 159;
Sylvester III., 155; Symmachus, 20;
Theodore I., 242; Theodore II., 154;
Urban VIII., 55, 111, 201, 253, 256;
Vigilius, 71 ; Vitalianus, 112, 124.

Popes destroy ancient monuments to
rebuild Christian churches, 20(5 fol.

Porta Appia, 143; Asinaria, 143, 165;
Aurelia, 143, 145 ; Capena, 31 ; Col-
lina, 177 ; Flaminia, 54, 143, KiO, 165 ;
Furba, 86; Metroni, 143; Nomen-
tana, 143 ; Ostiensis, 54 ; Portuensis,
53, 54; Praenestina, 53, 54, 143;
Salaria, 142; Septimiana, 54; Ti-
burtina, 53, 54, 143, 160, 190 ; Vimina-
lis, 143.

Porticus, in the Via Bocca della Verita,
176; Crinorum, 177; Eventus Boni,
259; Gallatorum, 176; Maior (Via
Sacra), 178 ; Maximae, of Gratian, 34 ;
Minucia, 177; of Octavia, 28, 176,
186, 187, 208; of Philippus, 176.

Porto. 128, 137, 186, 195, 235, 264.

Portus Licini, 78.

Postumius, M. Festus, house of, 24.

Praedia Aemiliana, 18.

S. Praesede, church of, 116.

Praetorian camp, 89.

Principia, house of, 58.

S. Prisca, church of, 61.

Prothi Ascesa, 147.

S. Pudens in Vico Patricio, church of,
145, 148.

S. Pudenziana, church of, 246.

SS. Quaranta de Calcarario (S. Fran-
cesco delle Stimmate), church of,
193.

276

INDEX OF SUBJECTS

SS. Quatro Coronati, church of, 165,

181.
SS. Quirico e Giolitta, church of,

147.
Quirinal, called ' Monte Cavallo,' 147;

marble statues on, 166; river gods

of, 222.

Ranuccl Romano, 180.

Raphael, tapestries of , 217 foi. ; frescoes

of, 221, 222.
Record ofiice, 37.
Regia, 18, 194.
Regionary Catalogue of the time of

Constantine, 48.
Remi Meta, 178.
Rhadagaisus, 50.
Rienzi, Cola di, 234.
S. Rocco, church of, 263.
Roma Vecchia, 104.
Romani, the, 199.
Roman us. See Pope.
Romuli, Sepulcrum, 178, 210.
Romulus, Heroon of, 110, 123, 256.
Rosplgliosi gardens, 24.
De Rossi's account, 83, 84.
Rotondo, church of the. See Pantheon.
Ruins of Roman villas, stratification

of, 101.

S. Saba, church of, 122.

S. Sabina, church of, 61 ; garden of,
58.

Sacra Via. See Via.

Sacrae Urbis Templum, 208, 256.

Sallust, gardens of, 58, 89, 261.

S. Salvator de Porticu, church of, 178.

S. Salvatore in Campo, church of, 256.

S. Salvatore in Primicerio, church of,
165.

Sanctus Angelus, 176.

Sanguigni, the, 199.

Saracens, traces of the camiJ of, 137 ;
in the St. Bernard Pass, 158.

Sarcophagi, used to hold relics of mar-
tyrs, 117.

Saturn , temple of, 34, 110.

Savelli, the, 199.

Saviour, church of the, 110.

Schola Graeca, 143.

S. Sebastiano, in Pallara, 91 ; alia Pol-

veriera, 121.
Secretarium Senatus, 110, 118, 256.
Senate-house, 22, 110, 123, 147, 207, 208.
Sentius Saturniniis, G., shrine rebuilt

by, 27.
Sepolcro degli Stucchi, 96.
Septa Julia, 208.
Septimius Severus, 18, 28 ; palace of, J

restorations of, 22, 28. See Arch.
Septizonium, 121, 152, 201, 235, 239.
Serapeum of Alexandria, 65.
Sergius I., II., III. See Pope.
SS. Sergius and Bacchus. See Churchy
Sette Sale, 246.

Severus, architect of Nero, 19.
Severus, Alexander, 28, 191.
Silverius. See Pope.
Silverware, finds of, 63.
S. Silvestro in Capite (St. Sylvester).

See Church.
Sinibaldi, the, 199.
Sistine Chapel, 204, 218.
Sixtus IV., V. See Pope.
S. Spirito, hospital of, 204.
Stadium, where now is the Piazza Na-

vona, 5, 48, 146, 1{«), 246, 262.
Statilian family. Columbaria of, 94.
Statilius Taurus, 11, 199.
Statio Marmorum, 33.
Statuary, removed from pagan places

of worship, 36 ; used as rubble, 41

fol.; condition of, when discovered,

45.
Statues, hiding of bronze, in times of

panic, 64 fol. ; concealed by magis-
trates, 65.
Stefaneschi, the 199.
S. Stefano, delle Carozze, 12; Ro-j

tondo, 34, 37.
Stephen II., V., VI. See Pope.
Stilicho, 50, 53, 56.
Stratification of ruins, 101.
Streets, condition of, 227.
Studio of Greek sculptors on the

quiline, 42.
Subura, 143, 145, 147, 201.
Sun, temple of, 199.
S. Susanna, church of, 242.
Sylvester III. See Pope.

INDEX OF SUBJECTS

277

St. Sylvester. See Church.
Symmachus. See Pope.

Tabernola, 15.

Tapestries of Raphael, 217 fol.

Tarpeian rock, 259.

Temple, of Antoninus and Faustina,
111; Claudius (Caelian), 208, 261
Concord, 110, 206; Craticulae, 177
Dea Dia, 208 ; Hercules Victor, 209
Hope, 177; Isis, 42, 112, 171, 173
186, 193, 205, 222, 245 ; Janus, 110
Juno Regina, 61; Juno (Veii), 265
Jupiter Optimus Maximus, 8, 13, 48
52, 74, 159, 176, 205, 208, 247, 259 fol
Jupiter Stator, 18, 121 ; Mater Ma-
tuta, 12, 39; Minerva, 255; Minerva
Medica (so called) , 95 ; Mithras, 245 ;
Moon, 17 ; Peace, 57 ; Penates, 18 ;
Pietas, 10, 159, 177 ; Romulus, 110,
12.3, 256; Saturn, 34, 110; Sacrae
Urbis, 208, 256 ; Sun, 199; Venus and
Rome, 8, 22, 48, 110, 122, 194, 207,
246 ; Venus in Calcarario, 245 ; Venus
(gardens of Sallust) , 261 ; Vesta, 18 ;
Vulcan (Ostia), 194.

Temples closed, 35.

S. Teodoro, church of, 264.

Terebinthus, 177.

Theatre, of Balbus, 5; Marcellus, 101,
176, 177, 199 ; Pompey, 5, 48, 77, 145,
146, 152, 176, 199.

Theoderic, 38, 77 fol., 89, 90, 183.

Theodore I., H. See Pope.

Theodosius, 35, 50. See Arch.

Thermae (see Baths) , areas closed for,
14 ; their building an important fac-
tor in the transformation of Rome,
22 fol. ; of Agrippa (Commodianae) ,
145, 146, 193, 245, 259; of Caracalla,
14, 22, 23, 33, 90, 116, 192, 208; of
Constantine, 14, 24, 145, 147, 255 ; of
the Decii, 14, 36, 57, 60 ; of Diocletian,
14, 22, 27, 116, 153, 194, 211, 239, 261 ;
of Nero, 14; of Titus, 14, 23, 32, 36,
262 ; of Trajan. 14, 23, 32, 36, 145, 148.

Tiber, 33; inundations of, 139 fol.;
figure of, 222 ; treasures thrown into,
225 fol.

Tigellinus, 4, 18.

Titus, 57; house of, 211. See Arch,
Thermae.

Tombs, fate of, 91 ; entrances con-
cealed, 95 fol. ; destruction of, 190.

Tombs, of the Apusii, 103; Arruntii,
31 ; Casal Rotondo, 237 ; Caecilia
Metella, 92, 96, 191, 236 fol.; Gains
Cestius,96, (Meta Remi), 178; Fabii,
31; on the Via Flaminia, 208; Lu-
cilius Paetus, 92 ; at tire Ponte dell'
Arco, 236, 237 ; Romulus, 178 ; Alex-
ander Severus, 191 ; Vergilius Eury-
saces, 92 ; Vibius Marianus, 92. See
Sepolcro.

Torre, de' Conti, 201 ; Fiscale, 82, 162 ;
delle Milizie, 201; di Nona, 41;
Pignatarra, 72, 246; dei Schiavi, 7.

Torrecchiano Campo, 199, 202.

Totila, 119, 151.

Trajan, arch of, 31; channel of, 33;
house of, 57; column of, 109, 125,
145, 146, 148, 166, 238. See Forum,
Thermae.

Treasures, concealed at the sack of
1527, 224 fol.

Tribunus Voluptatum, 78.

Triumph of Diocletian, 49 fol.

Tulliola, 103.

Turcius Asterius Secundus, 63.

Turris Chartularia, 121, 201.

Ugolini house, 5.
Umbilicus Romae, 145.
Urban VIII. See Pope.

Vacca, Flaminio, extracts from me-
moirs of, 5, 39, 90, 192, 194, 259.

Valens. See Arch.

Valentinian I., 33; bridge of (Ponte
Sisto) , 34, 246 ; prohibited sacrifices,
35. See Arch.

Valentinian III., 74 fol.

Valerius Severus, 59.

Vassalecti, 180.

Vatican, the, 128, 133, 175. See Mu-
seum, St Peter's.

Vatican district included in the city
proper, 132.

Veii, 186.

Venantius Fortunatus, 109.

278

INDEX OF PASSAGES

Venus, Venus and Rome. See Temple.

Vergilius Eurysaces, tomb of, 92.

Verus, Lucius, statue of, 104.

Vespasian, Lex Regia of, 234.

Vesta, temple of, 18; statue of, 196.

Vestals, house of, 121, 122, 196, 264.

Via Appia, 31, 103, 105, 137, 194;
Aurelia, 16; Clodia, 158; CoUatina,
16; Cornelia, 32; Labicana, 16, 72;
Latina, 96, 160, 194 ; Nomentana, 20,
32 ; Nova, 31 ; Praenestina, 6 ; Sacra,
34, 36, 52, 110, 120, 153, 178, 191, 211 ;
Salaria Vetus, 15, 65, 151; Salaria
Nova, 15; Tiburtina, 33 ; Triumpha-
lis, 177, 178. See Clivus, Vicus.

S. Vibiana, church of, 116, 256.

Vibius Marianus, tomb of, 92.

Victory, statue of, 48.

Vicus Capitis Africae, 151 ; Patricius,
240 ; Portae Viminalis, 240 ; Tuscus,
153.

Vigilius. See Pope.

Vigna Barberini, 19, 121; Barberint

Spithoever, 89 ; Ceccarelli, 116; Gri-'

mani (Barberini), 90; Maciocchi,57;

Moroni, 95 ; Torlonia, 57.
Villa Corsini-Pamfili, 16; Giulia, 191,

263; di Giulio III. (museo), 13; Gor-

dianorum (Via Praenestina), 6, 7;

Livia, 194; Quintiliorum, 103 fol. ;

Voconiorum, 105.
Vitalianus. See Pope.
S. Vitalis in Vico Longo, church ofj

145, 148, 192.
Vitiges, siege of, 79, 89, 115.
Volusianus, Rufus, 33.
Vulcan, temple of (at Ostia), 194.

Wall, Leonine, 133 fol. ; of Aurelian,
15.

Zmaragdus, 109.

II. INDEX OF PASS'^GES AND INSCRIPTIONS CITED

A. Authors

AUMIANUS Marcellinus

Page
XVI. 10, 47

St. Augustine
Sermo cv de verbis Evang. Luc.

X. 13, 65

Cassiodobius

Variae

vii. 13, 38

iii. 10, 38

Claudianus

De VI. Consulatu Honorii
42, 65

Codex Barbbrinianus
XXX. 25, 152

Codex Theodosianus
X. Tit. 17, 92

Dion Cassius
xliii. 49, 11

Fbontinus
i. 13, 80

Horace
Satires

I. viii. 8 fol.,

Page
15

St. Jerome

Letters

xlviii., 59

xcvi., 59

Liber Pontificaxis

Gregorius, iv. 38, 126

Vol. II., 145, xxii,, 131

Vol. II., 145,xxiii., 139
Vol. II., 225, 235, 240, 248, 270, 275, 155

Vol. II., 258, 156

LiVY

xxiv. 46, 16

xxvi. 27, 16

MoN. Germ. Scr. Lang.
Vol. I., p. 53,
Vol. I., p. 4a3,
Vol. VI., p. 358,

155
156
157

INDEX OP INSCRIPTIONS

279

PBUDENTrUS

Contra Sym.
i. 501-505,

Pliny the Elder
Historia Naturalis
vii. 36, 121,

Procopius

de Bello Gothico
i. 19,
ii. 3,
iv. 22,

Octav. 29,

XV. 43,

Suetonius

Tacitus
Annates

Page
35

10

79,145
83
87

11

iii. 23,
\r.46.

Venantius Fortunatus
Car7nina

Zosiuus

19

109
57

B. Inscriptions

Benevento, inscription found at,
Brick stamp of Theoderic,
Capua, inscription found at.

Corpus Inscriptlonum Latinarum

i. 285, 112

p. 415, 194

vi. 472, 153

562, 153

773, 153

vi. 916,
1014,
1016,
1173,
1178,
1187,
1188-90,
1191,
1472,
1651,
1658,
16<53,
1664,
1703,
1708,
1711,
1728 a,
1730,
14, 647,

Page

153

153, 231

153

33

152

50

53

152

153

36

36

36

37

61

153

153

151

50

20

Ephemeris Epigraphica
iii. p. 287,

21

De Rossi : Inscr, Chr. Urbis Romae

Vol, II., p. 212, 156

p. 215, 155, 156

p. 347, 136

Fabretti: Inscriptiones Domesticae
p. 721, no. 431, 20

Marini : Inscriptiones alb.
X., 194

Notizie degli Scavi: 1880, p. 53, 51

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